Seeking Comfort
by Emperor Zeref Dragneel
Summary: Lisanna dies. This death struck Natsu Dragneel and Mirajane Strauss more than anyone else in the guild, gradually causing the two to grow closer and closer in hopes of something deeper. However, an estranged Erza Scarlet is not likely to sit by as the boy she has feelings for and her rival get a little too close for comfort, prompting her to retaliate in ways of her own.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. They are the property of Hiro Mashima.

 **Together in the Rain**

Mirajane Strauss stood behind the tree she had currently been leaning on for what seemed to have been the past half hour or so. On the other side of the tree, a few meters away from her, were two men, standing at the grave of her beloved sister, who had passed away a week ago. The two men in question were her brother, Elfman Strauss, and her sister's sweetheart, Natsu Dragneel. Her white haired brother, who still had his face covered in bandages over the last mission that had ended up with the death of their sister, was apologizing to Natsu, a habit he had taken ever since they had returned to the guild that day with news of Lisanna's death. Mira, at a lack of words herself, had decided to watch patiently what was going to transpire, finding herself at a lack of words. However, she could very well clearly hear what the two men were talking about, Natsu resolutely telling Elfman with a tone that held a strong sense of finality that he had enough of his bawling and that Lisanna would not be happy seeing him cry like that, putting an end to the conversation.

The white haired woman could hear her brother's footsteps trailing away as he made away from the grave and back to the guild where all the others were, a bit happy that she could no longer hear his sobs and cries. Smiling underneath her breath, she looked into the sky where she could see dark clouds gathering under the sun that had been visible mere moments ago. This was definitely not a good sign. Dark clouds often gave an ominous sign, and Mira remembered clearly the dark clouds that had been there when her sister was losing her life before her eyes. It was bound to rain soon, she thought, but even when she glanced at the corner of her eye to see whether or not Natsu was making any effort to act in regards to the foreboding rain. To her slight surprise, however, she saw him still standing at the same spot he had been in, rooted to the ground like the stone pillar that had her sister's name etched on it. If he had taken any notice of the oncoming rain, he certainly gave no signs of it.

A drop of rain hit the white haired girl on the top of her head, giving way to the first torrent of rain that would soon have the ground awash. She ejected herself from the tree she had been leaning on, with a little difficulty, as her body had not yet completely healed from the tragic mission. Her arm in particular still throbbed around her elbow joint, where a cast had been until a few days ago, but luckily it was something that she could bear with. She walked silently till where the pink haired man was standing; her face contorted into a grim expression, not giving any hint of what she was feeling at the moment. All around her, droplets of rain fell round, quenching the dry earth and causing a moist smell to envelop the area.

Finally taking her place beside Natsu, Mira decided to call out to him. It was the first time she had talked ever since she had come to know of this place, opting to keep her silence and not to alert Natsu as to her presence there. She knew that Natsu had made that place as a shrine of sorts for her, even though she had her grave at the Cathedral, and she wanted to respect that as much as possible. Still, this time she was not sure what exactly compelled her to talk to him, but she nonetheless decided to go through with it," Natsu," she started, her voice surprisingly low," let's go back. It's starting to come down. If you stay here too long you'll catch a cold."

She was sure that Natsu had definitely heard what she had said, well aware of the physical capabilities of Dragon Slayers, but his body still stood there, unstirred. The rain had began falling down a bit rapidly now, although the droplets were still small, feeling like small stones on contact with her skin. She wondered whether the rain was a representation of the grief washing over the Fire Dragon Slayer at the moment. Ever since Lisanna had died, Mira had been paying attention to how Natsu was coping with the death of her sister. The two had been very close whilst she was still alive after all. She had been there since the first day she had seen him make that memorial stone for Lisanna, watching him spare a few hours daily from his regiment in the guild to come stand there in solitude, watching the sunlight beside the stone. There were times when he seemed to lose track of the time, and she would find him leaving the place when night had fallen over all of Magnolia. Ever since her sister had died, the white haired girl had felt awfully lonely, and the presence of her brother offered some comfort, but it still seemed not to be enough. She somehow felt she could receive solace from the pink haired boy, wondering whether it made her a bad person or not, watching him suffers in silence without attempting to cheer him some.

Suddenly, Mira felt enraged. She realized she could not bear to watch any more of her friend anguishing in loneliness over something that he had no control of. She wondered whether he secretly blamed himself over what happened to Lisanna, owing to Elfman's words, the thought further angering her. He had no right at all to blame himself over what transpired back then! Gritting her teeth a little, she placed one foot ahead of her, raising her voice as she talked to Natsu a second time that evening," Do you think Lisanna would be happy watching you as you are right now?" It was a simple plea; a question that she was sure broke her heart more than his, as she echoed the words he had voiced to Elfman earlier. The rain was coming down a tad bit heavier now, and not wanting her words to be drowned out by the considerably large noise caused as the water descended from the heavens, she continued," Everyday, everyday you keep on coming here to this place, acting like some Zombie as you spend time with someone who's already long gone! Lisanna's gone! You have to accept that and stop beating yourself up so much over it!"

A small sinking feeling in Mira's chest was evidence of the agony she felt as she uttered those words, but she still knew they had to be said anyway. The truth was that she was still in shock over all that had happened, a small part of her willing that it was a nightmare, just a terrible nightmare that she had taken too long to wake up from. However, one thing she was sure of was that she could not allow Natsu to continue on like this. He was supposed to be a ray of hope, a beacon of light for the guild and their symbol of happiness. This whole fiasco was just wrong! Ahead of her, she saw the slightest traces of a movement from Natsu's shoulders, wondering whether he had reacted to her mentioning of the name 'Lisanna.' Even if he had, he made no attempt to look behind at her, meeting her eyes with his, serving only to anger Mira further. Enraged, she felt the need to punch the man in the back, raising her fist in effect, but her resolve weakened as soon as it had appeared. No, this wasn't like all the other times in the guild when she would punch Natsu for being a goofball. He probably wouldn't react to her blow like he had all those other times in the guild, so it would probably be a waste of effort and energy.

Instead, she took two steps forward, now standing ahead of Natsu. The rain was coming down strongly at the moment, but it did not offer much hindrance to her vision of him at the moment. Stretching out both her hands, she grabbed him by the collars of his jacket, her right elbow sending a bolt of pain throughout her entire body from the sudden action. She decided to ignore it, deeming what was happening at the moment more important than an insignificant pain in her body. Natsu's body felt limp underneath her grasp, bringing her to the realization that he was offering no resistance to what she was doing to him at the moment. She shook him slightly, a vein popping on her forehead in irritation,"Why do you keep on doing this to yourself? Putting yourself through the same pain daily, are you really satisfied with that?" She took in a whiff of air, and not giving him a chance to answer, even if she knew that he would probably not respond to her, continued," Why don't you think about how you make other people feel when you act this way?!"

The white haired woman was out of breath at this point. The downpour that could no longer be ignored had soaked up her clothes, leaving her feeling a bit cold, but she paid it no heed. Breathing a bit heavily, she gritted her teeth a bit harder, keeping her gaze downcast and way from the pink haired boy's eyes. The truth was, Mira herself was probably suffering more than Natsu, yet she forced herself to say such vile words to him. As she stared at the water-laden ground at her feet, she remembered vividly something that had been happening to her for a while now. Every night as she drifted off to sleep underneath the cover of her blankets which suddenly seemed not as warm as they had always been, she would find herself dreaming of her and her sister. The two Strauss sisters would hold hands as they sat underneath a tree, underneath Magnolia Park. They would talk about all sorts of things, both small and big, sharing in laughter and warmth. As the two gradually took in each other's company, however, her sister would begin gradually fading away from existence next to her, and Mira would panic and immediately call out to her not to leave her. With one last smile, however, the girl would fade away completely, leaving the Satan Soul user alone, causing her to wake up immediately from her sleep. Every time she woke up, she would find herself alone, coming to the harsh realization that her sister was no longer with her. The two sisters often slept in the same bed, a habit that had refused to die young ever since they were toddlers, but one they took pride in nonetheless. Each and every morning this happened, Mira would linger a few minutes longer in bed, crying softly in her pillow as she grieved over her sister's untimely death.

She knew full well that she had it the hardest out of all the Guild Members, but then again, she simply could not take it anymore watching Natsu suffer. It hurt her more than she could bear, and a small part of her wondered whether it should have been the right decision to do whatever she was doing right from the beginning. She did not like seeing him so broken, so today was finally the day when she would put an end to it once and for all.

The resultant maelstrom of emotions caused tears to well up in her eyes, and putting no effort to hide them, she allowed them to fall to the ground beneath her, making small ripples as they touched the water on the ground. Her hands were now shaking as she held on to the edges of Natsu's jacket, threatening to let go any moment now as she finally gave in to the wave of sadness that had washed over her. It was a funny thing. Just a while ago she had been contemplating whether the rain was a sign of Natsu's sadness, and here she was crying in sync with the clouds above her. Perhaps the rain was a sign of both her and Natsu's sadness.

She had not expected it when it came to her, so her surprise when she suddenly found a pair of warm arms wrap around her shoulders was evident. Her previously cold body suddenly found itself embraced by familiar warmth, feeling the particularly warm feeling around her neck. Her eyes widened as she stared at his chest, taking note of the ripples of muscle around there. Maybe it was because of the last words she said to him, Mira thought, or perhaps, it was the rain, working its magic in ways unknown to her. Above her head, she could feel a few drops hit her head, and she looked up to find his eyes closed and warm tears making their way down his cheeks, striking her now upturned face. With this, it was now all clear to Mira. Natsu was holding himself back all this time, vowing to never show anyone just how broken he was feeling over the whole tragedy. All he had done so far, the memorial, the constant visits here, were probably all meant to keep him busy so that he could never express what he truly felt. What he really needed was someone to give him that one push. Mira had gotten through to him somehow, and realizing this, fresh tears welled up in the white haired girl's eyes, mixing with Natsu's tears as they trailed down her cheeks and the rain that was now around them. She placed her hands on his chest, taking in the warmth he provided, and pushed him closer, the two standing amidst the rain that enveloped them.

A few minutes later, when the rain had died down a little, Natsu released Mira from his embrace, much to the white haired girl's chagrin. However, what he did next would make up for the slight disappointment she had felt earlier. Taking her smaller arm in his bigger, firmer one, he slowly turned his head, taking one step ahead of him, and tugging slightly at her arm as he trudged on the muddy road behind them. Mira followed in tow behind him, wondering where he was planning on taking her. After a few minutes of walking in silence, with no one attempting to break the serenity in the air, the view of the Fairy Tail building came in sight, things finally making sense to Mira. Natsu was going to rejoin the others and finally have a blast goofing off with them as usual. However, the thought, which seemed tantalizing to the white haired girl numerous times in the past, suddenly did not seem as pleasing. She was not sure she wanted to part with him so soon, and as they neared the building, the shouts and screams from inside the building slowly growing from a faint sound away to something clearer, she stopped in motion behind him. Natsu, slightly surprised by her gesture, turned back to look at her, concern in his eyes. His eyes had already dried up, now seeming to hold a brightness that they had been devoid off for days.

"Mira?"

To this unsure call of her name, the white haired girl simply shook her head, and without saying a further word, tugged at his arm, with a bit more force than he had tugged at her earlier, pulling him in the opposite direction.

 **A/N:** Well here comes another surprise! Another Fairy Tail story courtesy of yours truly xD I don't know why but somehow I seem to love Fairy Tail more and more with each week and that love is turning into inspiration for new stories, something I absolutely enjoy! This time I won't spoil on the pairing xD You can ship whatever you want since well I will balance all of them equally. I hope this was a satisfying first chapter. Make sure you read, enjoy and leave a review!

Fairy Tail fan for life!


	2. How I've Always Felt About You

**Chapter 2**

 **How I've Always Felt About You**

Natsu Dragneel and Mirajane Strauss were currently hunched up in Mira's room in the girl's dorm, Fairy Hills. The worst of the rain had already passed, and the sky looked as if it was about to give way to its first rays of sunshine for a while, which would be a well-received change. Almost all the residents of the dormitory, however, were all gone, courtesy of being in the main building hall with the rest of the guild, leaving in their departure a pin drop silence that enveloped the atmosphere. For one Mira, however, she found herself not minding the solitude she was left in, as she was able to enjoy it with the Dragon Slayer to her heart's content.

Natsu, however, was having second thoughts regarding Mira's decision to bring him here earlier. "Um, Mira," he started voicing them, as soon as he had made himself comfortable upon her bed," you sure about not joining the others? It might help cheer you up more, you know." Not that he minded her company in anyway; on the contrary, he would be more than welcome to spend time with her anytime, however, at the moment he was more concerned whether she was feeling better than she was moments earlier.

Mira, who seemed to have calmed down for the most part, and was seated a few places away from Natsu, replied while her eyes were still focused on the wooden floor of her room," It's okay, I don't want the others to see me the way I am right now," she then shifted her eyes to look at Natsu, "It's the same for you, right?"

Natsu, unsure himself of whether he was back to his uppity mood, found that question confirming what he was feeling at that moment. Mira did have a point, with the way he currently was, he would probably be unable to wreak havoc with the guys like he always did. Scratching his cheek, Natsu found himself agreeing with the white haired woman.

Still, he had no idea what to make of the current predicament he was in. Now that he pondered over it, it was Natsu's first time in Fairy Hills, and to make the matter more stupendous it was his first time in Mira's room. He and her sister had been the closest of friends while she was still alive, but even then, Natsu had never bore witness to the girl's residence. Being in her sister's residence right now suddenly seemed something out of a really weird dream. His eyes rummaged around the room, taking note of the décor since he was now somewhat curious what kind of place Mira would reside in. There were posters on the walls that contained what seemed to be outlandish musicians dressed in the same manner that Mira always dressed in, giving Natsu a faint idea of where she got the inspiration for her dress code. He realized that it was just like her to have something like that in her room.

As his eyes roamed the room, they soon came upon a carton that was only a few feet away from the edge of the bed. The carton was open, placing its contents in open display for anyone to feast their eyes on, and Natsu was surprised to see clothes; and not just any clothes, but clothes that seemed too girly for Mira to even think of adorning. The pink haired man raised an eyebrow in surprise. While it was probably not something that he needed to rack his brain over, he found himself wondering why Mira would even think of having anything pink and frilly, as he took note of the dress that lay atop the other clothes in the carton. To make the matter seem more ludicrous, the clothes were arranged in a neat pile, a stark contrast to how Mira's clothes were lying in her open wardrobe that was just in Natsu's line of vision. The first thought that came to Natsu, of course, was that the white haired girl was trying to change herself and go for something simpler in her demeanor, owing to Lisanna's death. The thought seemed amusing to Natsu, as his thoughts strayed to what she would look like if she tried to be a bit more feminine than she already was. Perhaps it would be a nice change, he bemused, allowing himself a small smirk under his breath.

Taking note of the rest of the clothes that were in the carton, which were arranged in neat piles of twos, Natsu realized that there was something slightly amiss. He had not noticed it with the dress that he first spotted, however, with the rest of the pieces of clothing, which ranged from skirts to dresses to blouses, he confirmed it. The clothes seemed smaller than what Mira looked like wearing. It was then that Natsu figured that the stuff may have not belonged to Mira after all. There could only be one other person the stuff belonged to, he realized, as he turned to face Mira to affirm his doubts.

"Were those Lisanna's?" Natsu asked, pointing at the carton that contained the clothes. Mira, who was delved into her own plethora of thoughts, was brought out of her stupor and had her attention refocused on Natsu. Without saying anything, she got off the bed then began walking towards the spot Natsu had pointed at earlier. "Actually, that's part of the reason that I've brought you here," she said as she lowered her body over the carton to have a better look of the contents inside. Natsu noticed that there was a slight shakiness to Mira's voice, but decided not to say anything about it as she was currently preoccupied with sifting through the contents in the box, clearly looking for something.

A few seconds passed, before the sifting sounds stopped, and Mira was now holding an envelope in her hand. The envelope itself was pink in color, sealed by a red heart at its middle. She walked back to where she had been seated earlier, Natsu's eyes going after her, before she outstretched her hand and placed the letter in Natsu's lap.

Natsu looked at the letter, speechless for a while, before Mira spoke up again," Lisanna wrote that letter a while ago. She was planning on giving it to you when we came back from the S-class job."

The pink haired man was surprised, as his hands nimbly worked with the seal of the envelope and drew out the letter that was placed inside. He did not know what to think of the fact that Lisanna had addressed anything to him, and as he unfolded the piece of paper, he was finding himself growing increasingly hesitant. What did Lisanna want to tell him that she couldn't in person? After all, they were always together weren't they? He began to read from the top of the letter, realizing silently just how wonderful Lisanna's writing looked,

 _'Dear Natsu,_

 _I know that you're probably wondering why I wrote this letter_

 _when we spend nearly every day together. But well, some things_

 _can't be said as easily as others. Just like what I've written in this_

 _letter. Natsu, I know that I've joked a lot of times in the past about_

 _being your wife in the future or starting a family with you, but the_

 _truth is, I love you. I don't know exactly when I started feeling this_

 _way about you, but I know the feelings I hold for you in my heart are_

 _real. It reached a point when just hanging out with you and just_

 _talking about the most random things was something I looked_

 _forward to daily. I know that I've probably already freaked you out_

 _by this part, huh? I don't know how you'll react when you see this, so_

 _let me say it once more, I Love You._

 _-Lisanna_

At the end of the letter, the pink haired man found himself bewildered by the letter's contents. Numbly, his eyes skimmed over the parchment once more, but he found himself not seeing the letters the second time round. He simply stared idly at the space ahead of him, completely at a loss of what to think of the words he had just received from the deceased girl.

Turning to Mira as if silently asking her to explain what he was supposed to do, he found himself more surprised than he already was, since as soon as his eyes came to rest on hers, he found her arms placed around his shoulders and holding him in an embrace from behind.

His eyes widened as he realized just how close in proximity he was with the white haired woman, but before he could voice his confusion, she whispered in his ear, in a voice that seemed not her own," I'm sorry." Natsu realized that the woman was shaking slightly, growing worried that their short spell in the rain had affected her somehow. However, what caught his attention more at the moment was the shaky manner Mira was currently talking with. Remembering vividly that her voice held the same tone when she had handed him Lisanna's letter earlier, the pink haired man immediately held her by the waist in an attempt to steady her.

"Why are you apologizing?" Natsu asked Mira tentatively, glancing from the side of his eye at her facial expression.

"I should have shown you something like this sooner. But I was afraid," the white haired woman replied, this time her voice a tad calmer. Natsu was glad to see that she was at least growing more and more at ease. Abashed, he responded to her, his voice carrying an edge of nervousness itself," Ah….the letter…" He was still unsure of what he should say about it, but at the moment, one thing he was sure of was that Mira needed him more. He managed to steady his voice before continuing," It's okay….It's really no big deal….Don't blame yourself," he continued, trying in earnest to try and comfort Mira.

"It's not okay!" Mira protested, and Natsu all but sensed the slight tinge of pain her voice carried. She seemed as if she was growing increasingly closer and closer to crying, something Natsu knew he was not going to let happen at all costs."The truth was…I was afraid. I should have told you this sooner," Mirajane continued.

With that second statement, however, Natsu realized that she wasn't talking about the letter, since she had clearly heard what he had said in regards to it mere moments ago. A bit confused, as he did not have the faintest clue what she was referring to, the pink haired Dragon Slayer asked," Mira, what are you talking about?"

Slowly, the Take Over Mage extricated her arms from Natsu's shoulders, refocusing her eyes on his, before pushing her face slightly forward and capturing Natsu's lips in a kiss. For what seemed to be the umpteenth time that day, Natsu Dragneel found himself at a loss for words owing to the increasingly awkward situations he was finding himself in.

A few seconds elapsed, and the white haired woman parted her lips from Natsu's. This time, however, she did not look at his eyes like she had done on two previous occasions. Instead, she cast her gaze to the side, placing one arm atop her opposite elbow, since she was not sure what else she needed to say after her bold gesture just then.

"Mira…." Natsu started, trying to abate the tense atmosphere that was beginning to take hold of the room, but his words got stuck in his throat as he realized that the woman before him had a look of guilt muddled with unhappiness showing in her eyes.

The white haired woman then spoke up, finally finding the courage to say something since the tenseness in the room was also getting to her," Natsu," this time her voice was a lot more confident than it had been on any other occasion that day," the truth is, I've always had feelings for you. But, I wanted you and Lisanna to be happy, because I knew how she felt about you. I've known for a while now.

Natsu took in each word she was saying, as they were shedding light on her sudden gesture to him, finally understanding the reason for her shaky voice earlier and her edgy behavior. Still, one thing did not make sense to him regarding Mira's answer. "Why did you decide to tell me now? What changed?"

Mira ran her hand idly up and down on her elbow, still finding it difficult to look at Natsu, before replying," I don't know myself. Maybe, I'm just being a terrible person plus a terrible sister and taking advantage of the fact that Lisanna isn't here right now." Her voice just then carried a dark undertone, immediately catching Natsu's attention as he realized that she wasn't back to normal just yet.

With more strength than he had intended to use, Natsu placed his burly arms on Mira's shoulders, slightly shaking the girl's body and causing her to look at him in surprise. He was never, ever going to let her think that way of herself; in the dark way she had voiced her reply just then. She was someone precious to him after all.

"Hey, don't ever think that about yourself that way, okay? You have more to offer than you known," he stated in his usual matter of fact voice, flashing her one of his usual smiles at the end of his statement. Mira, who was slightly flustered by the contact she felt from Natsu, looked upon his beaming face and felt a likewise feeling welling up in her. She managed a weak smile at the pink haired man, nodding her head brusquely in response to his statement just then.

At that moment, however, a knock was heard on Mira's open door, catching the attention of the two mages that were currently inside. Both traversed their eyes to the source of the third sound, finding it to be none other than Erza Scarlet. However, she was not clad in her usual fashion of armor, instead, this time adorning only a towel to cover her voluptuous features and nothing more. His eyes resting upon the red head, Natsu felt his cheeks slightly flushed as he was carried away by what he saw just then. Her creamy skin showed magnificently at the ends where the towel did not reach, and on certain parts of the creamy skin, there were still droplets of water that glistened beautifully on the surface of her skin.

Mira, on the other hand, was none the happier at the sight of the woman who was her rival. She came at what would be the most ungodly time, just when the white haired woman was growing closer and closer to the boy who was the target of all her affections since she could remember.

 _Damn you, Erza._

She would make the woman pay for her unwanted interruption in due time.

Erza, who had one hand still resting on the door and the other flailing idly at her side, batted her eyebrows in surprise at the sight of the two mages in the room. What seemed odder to her was the fact that Natsu was in Mira's room, since she could not even begin to fathom just what he was doing there. "I thought I heard more than one voice in here. What are you doing here, Natsu?" She asked in a curious undertone, her eyes shifting between the white haired woman and the pink haired man.

Mira, who was growing increasingly irate with the red haired woman's presence, wasted no time in retorting back at her, with a smug voice," What about you? I thought you'd be in the guild with the others."

"I just came back from a job. I was just about to get there after I got changed into something more comfortable," Erza stated in a calm manner, which only served to anger Mira more. The red haired girl then fixed her eyes upon the lone Dragon Slayer in the room, in a manner wordlessly asking him to answer the question she had asked earlier before Mira had cut in.

The Take Over Mage, whose eyes were rapidly shifting between Erza and Natsu, caught on as to what Erza's intentions were a moment earlier, owing to the eerie silence that was seeping into the room. A small grin formed on her face, then disappeared as soon as it had formed, as she realized that her chance to hit back at Erza had come sooner than she had expected. Latching onto Natsu's right arm with both her own, her cheeks puffed into what would pass as the cutest expression Mirajane had ever formed, before asking Erza in a slightly proud manner, "What, a girl can't spend alone time with her boyfriend?"

 **A/N:** As for how Natsu reacted when he saw Erza in a towel, from the Fairy Tail Wiki Page it says that Natsu is sort of a pervert, so I tried capturing what I thought would be one of his perverted tendencies in that scene. Other than that, well, I have mixed feelings about this chapter. I think I started a bit rocky, but managed to flesh it out well as I approached the middle, so from there it was a smooth sail! Well, to me anyway. I hope you will all love this chapter as you did the first. Thank you for all the reviews, follows and favorites. Make sure to do the same with this chapter too!


	3. Boyfriend Trouble

**Chapter 3**

 **Boyfriend Trouble**

"B-boyfriend?" Erza echoed the words of the white haired woman to herself, still in a daze over what she was told earlier. Her eyes had grown larger than their normal size as she regarded the two people in the room ahead of her. "Just what do you mean by that?" The Ex-quip user asked, this time with a slightly confident tone as she had managed to recompose herself enough to speak coherently.

The Take Over Mage simply smiled back at the red haired woman, with an undertone of a victory in her facial expression at the moment. Nuzzling closer to the pink haired man, who still had his eyes shifting between Erza and Mirajane since his mind was still trying to reel in what had just happened, Mirajane spoke up again, this time in a tad higher tone than before," It means exactly what it sounds like, Erza" She said the last part of the response in a smug manner, relishing in the victory she had just won over her rival in the guild.

However, Erza was not going to be satisfied with just that. Averting her gaze away from Mirajane, she regarded Natsu with her eyes, a stern look etched on them. Natsu was slightly taken aback, but he knew what Erza was about to ask before the words came out of her mouth. "Is what Mira has said true, Natsu?" Erza asked in a slightly unnerved manner, knowing full well that whatever answer Natsu would give would possibly change things between them drastically. She was not sure whether she was ready to hear his answer. Natsu looked at the red head for a while, and his lips slightly parted to give her the answer she was growing increasingly worried over…

To Natsu and Erza's further surprise, however, Mirajane spoke up in a hasty tone, her voice betraying a slight feeling of impatience," And there's no reason for him to answer you as well!" That seemingly marked the end of the conversation between the two females, since Mira said it with a certain tone of finality.

The red haired woman closed her eyes in resignation, and then said under her breath," I see then." Folding her hands at her chest, she exited the room without a word further, her feet resounding softly with the wooden surface of the floor. Unknown to Erza however, the pink haired mage in the room had picked on the slightly dejected tone in her voice just then with her final reply, no matter how much the woman tried to hide it, and it slightly unnerved him. His attention, however, was roughly returned to the white hair girl seated next to him, as almost immediately the red haired girl exited the room; she tugged on his arm a bit hastily.

Natsu shifted his dark eyes to regard her, and found her looking at him already with her lovely set of blue eyes. The look she had on him currently made his heart skip a beat, and he looked away from her in order to hide the embarrassment he was experiencing. Mirajane paid it no heed however, exhaling slightly as she braced herself for what she was about to tell Natsu. It was a decision she had been wrestling with for a while in her mind, as she was not sure whether it was the right thing to do, especially with all the events that had happened after Lisanna's death, but after her small confrontation with Erza a few minutes prior, she was now sure of what her heart wanted. What she wanted.

"Natsu, about what I said earlier before Erza showed up, I was serious, you know," she inched her body closer to Natsu, her chest now pressing on his arm. The close proximity did nothing to abate the discomfort and embarrassment Natsu was feeling with the current situation, deepening the red stain on his cheeks more, and he struggled to retain a clear head while now looking at the blue eyed woman.

Rubbing the back of his head with his free hand, Natsu finally opened his mouth to speak to the woman after an unnaturally long period of silence. "Ah…haha…well the truth is Mira…I also have feelings for you. You're my important friend after all!" He finished the reply with an upbeat tone to his voice, at the end of it trying to flash her one of his signature grins, but he found his lips unwilling to move in respect to that. Looking at her nervously, Natsu tried to focus a confident look at her, but he failed at that too. He was completely at a loss of what to do regarding the situation, and a small part of him wished the earth would open up at his feet and swallow him whole right there and then.

The white haired mage was slightly dismayed with his response but then, but after the courage that Natsu had given her earlier, she did not want to give up so quickly. Her heart burned anew with a relit passion regarding what she wanted, and currently what she wanted more than anything was the pink haired Dragon Slayer before her. She was going to make him know just how deep her feelings for him ran, she resolved, as she huffed in slight exasperation and clasped his face with both hands and placed her lips on his once more. This time, the kiss lasted a couple of minutes longer than the first time, since Mira was more confident in what she was doing currently. There were no more doubts in her heart, and this time, she was able to register the slightly fiery taste that was on Natsu's lips, even as surprised as he was that for the second time that day, Mira had stolen a kiss from him. His hands flailed weakly at his sides at first, but before long, he allowed himself to be drawn into the kiss, this time tasting better than the first one they had shared.

Once Mira parted her lips from his and looked at him once more, the words she wanted to say now flowed out easily from her palate. "Go out with me, Natsu." Somehow the tone she was using at the moment told Natsu that she was being entirely candid and not leaving him any room for objections. It was slightly amusing but he had to object this time, albeit in a flustered manner.

"What? What about my feelings?" He asked, unsure of whether this would make Mirajane reconsider the entire matter. Not that he was against it in any regards, but he wanted the white haired woman to be sure of what she was asking for. The stern gaze she had on him did not give any hint of hesitation, and with that he was sure that this was what she wanted.

Surprisingly, however, her gaze relaxed, and she spoke in a slightly calm manner this time, "Do you not want to?"

"No that's not what I meant. You just caught me by surprise is all? But well, okay then, I'll go out with you!" This time he was able to give the white haired girl an ear to ear smile, a part of him elated at the prospect of embarking on something more than friendship with the white head. Truth be told, Natsu had next to no idea regarding dating more than the usual 'something more than friends', but since he was confident in his friendship with Mira, he knew that he would be in good hands with her. He would learn the rest of the details as he went.

With his response, Mira's gaze faltered slightly, her eyes momentarily growing to the size of bulbs. Her mouth went aghast, as her expression displayed the astonishment she had felt over Natsu's sudden answer. She had not expected him to answer so curtly, and so quickly. If it were any other person, she would have been doubtful over their intentions, but this was Natsu! He was always so direct and upfront about his feelings. What other choice did she have than to believe him? Or so she thought, but a small part of her wanted to know what had spurned his answer on just then," Are you sure about this?"

His smile widened and he looked at her with a soft gaze. Nodding his head brusquely, the pink haired man said," Yeah, well there is no problem with this. If you'll accept someone like me…Besides, I'm sure Lisanna will be happy seeing you move on forward with your life."

At this response, Mira clasped her hands together and a small shriek of happiness escaped her. Her eyes threatened to burst with tears just then, but she was able to hold it in and express her elation to the man before her with a bear crushing hug. "Thank you, Natsu!" Natsu was thrown off slightly with the force she crashed into him with, but was able to steady himself and pat her slightly on the back. She loved the feeling of warmth that coursed through her body with that action.

Later on that day, Natsu found himself in front of the door of a certain someone within the guild. After a little asking around, he was able to find the room, but now standing in front of it, he wondered just what he was going to say to the occupant.

Closing his eyes momentarily and pushing away all his doubts and fears to the back of his mind, Natsu pushed the door ajar, his eyes opening once more to rest upon the red headed occupant of the room. This time, she was fully dressed in stark contrast to the last time, and she was currently standing in front of her mirror. Her hair was slowly being straightened out, and there were the remnants of a recently finished cake resting on the table near the mirror. Upon the sudden intrusion, Erza shifted her eyes away from her image and was surprised to see her pink haired friend standing at the door.

"Natsu…." She started weakly, her hands that were previously in her hair working their way through the loose edges coming to rest on her sides. "What are you doing here?" She continued, then as the last memory with the pink head resurfaced vividly in her mind, and a small smile graced her lips. "Won't Mira get mad if she knows you're here?" She concluded her series of questions, the last one carrying a certain tone of cheerfulness.

Natsu chuckled a little at her response, and then replied," I don't think there's any reason for her to get mad." His eyes then scoured her room a little, before he took her silence as a yes for him to enter the room. Now leaning on the wall a few paces away from the door, Natsu regarded Erza in a pensive manner with his dark eyes," I came to check on you because I was worried about you. You sounded a bit dull earlier when you left Mira's room."

The red haired girl arched her eyebrows in surprise, never expecting Natsu to have picked on something so minuscule. After she had tried her best to hide it, too. Somehow it made her slightly happy that he was watching out for her, and she was somewhat appreciative of that side of him, but she did not want to talk about that matter for the moment. She quickly decided to change the subject, and luckily for her the man with her in the room at the moment had a lot of things happening to him recently that she wished to discuss with him.

Clearing her throat, Erza retorted," Well, what about you? When I entered Mira's room earlier you just couldn't keep your eyes off me could you?" She said, inching her torso forward as she looked at Natsu with a slightly amused look in her eyes. Now that she thought about it, no matter how amusing the notion seemed when she voiced it, why had he been looking at her that intently?

To her slight dismay, Natsu was not flustered in the least bit by her out of field question, answering in a cool manner," Hey, you caught me completely by surprise back then!" Erza wondered whether there was a slight undertone of embarrassment underneath the bravado of that statement. Still, she was glad that she had somehow averted the attention away from his initial concerns, so now she could talk to him as casually as they always did. Resting her back on the edge of her bed, she folded her hands on her chest then continued, this time in a much relaxed voice," You also did the same you know, springing all this boyfriend stuff on me the first time I see you in a while."

That did the trick. Natsu's gaze softened a little, a small bead of perspiration breaking on his forehead. Rubbing the back of his head nervously, Natsu chucked a little, and then said," Yeah, I'm trying to wrap my head around that too." Talking about his current status as Mira's boyfriend to his closest friend wasn't as easy as he had initially thought.

Now seated on her bed, her hands resting behind her back, Erza replied in kind," You'll get used to it. How are you feeling currently?" Erza Scarlet of course, had no firsthand knowledge regarding relationships, everything about romance she had read coming from a book, but she wanted to believe that it was a magical feeling for those involved. She wondered whether Natsu was feeling the same at the moment. He was proving a tad too hard to read currently, a fact that slightly vexed her.

Surprising her, the pink haired Dragon Slayer extricated himself from the wall he was rested on, and slowly walked till where she was, placing himself on her bed next to her. The sudden realization of how close they were sent jitters up Erza's spine, and she did her best to suppress it. Mirroring her earlier actions, Natsu placed his hands behind his back, casting his gaze slightly upwards, replying, and "Nothing out of the ordinary. Why do you ask?"

"It's nothing. Just feeling a bit lonely. " As soon as the words escaped her mouth, a sudden wave of realization hit the red haired woman. She didn't feel as important to Natsu anymore as she had thought of herself in the past. A sinking feeling in her gut told her this was what it meant to feel left out.

Before she could even recompose herself and brave a smile for her friend, Erza found herself wrapped in two strong arms. Her eyes widened as a feeling of warmth wrapped itself around her body, and she noticed a moment too late that Natsu had wrapped her in a hug. Her insides squirmed uncomfortably, as a familiar feeling of heat rose up her cheeks. She was at a loss of what to do. His head now rested on her shoulder, Natsu smiled softly then told her, the same manner he had always talked to her," Nothing has changed, Erza. I'm still here, and if you ever need anybody to talk to, I'll always be there for you."

 _That's the thing. Nothing has changed._

Erza was not sure whether to be happy or sad regarding that notion. But still, she was sure of one thing.

 _Thank you, Natsu._

Before she could allow herself to feel comfortable in the embrace of her long time friend, Erza was brought back to her senses by the sound of a halting pair of footsteps at her door. Looking past the shoulder of her friend, her heart sunk a little as she recognized the familiar white haired girl.

Mirajane was in an irritable mood, owing to the way she was tapping one finger on her elbow. Her teeth were slowly gritting, and she was staring daggers at the red headed girl in the room. Erza felt a cold shiver make its way down her spine. Still, a small part of her felt happy that Mira had found her in such a situation, striking it as a small victory for her, plus payback for the earlier incident in Mira's room.

"Hey Erza, don't you understand the meaning of the word boyfriend?" Mira asked irritably, now glaring daggers at the red haired knight. Natsu was surprised by the sound of his girlfriend, momentarily removing his arms from around Erza's neck and now focusing on Mira with a curious look. He could not understand why she sounded so angry over a casual gesture with a friend.

Erza was not going to be told off so easily. Looking at the white haired girl defiantly, something which only added to Mira's increasing temperament, she replied in a smug manner," In case you didn't notice, your boyfriend is the one hugging me."

Of course Mira had taken note of that the first thing she entered the room, but still, she was not comfortable with the idea. She was well aware how close Natsu and Erza were, and was somewhat jealous of Erza's relationship with the Dragon Slayer, if she were so frank to admit. Placing her hand on her forehead and releasing a small sigh, she closed her eyes momentarily. Shifting her attention to Natsu with her eyes wide open again, she said to him in a slight tone of displeasure," And you," she started, "don't you understand the position you are in?" She asked him, but was not expecting any answer straight out from him. She was sure that he only had the best intentions at heart for Erza when he hugged her, and that the hug meant nothing more than just the close knit friendship the two shared, but still, she was jealous. She had expected something like this to happen ever since Erza exited her room earlier, since Natsu was a naturally nice person by nature, but she had hoped and prayed not to find the two in such a situation.

 _Perhaps I may have rushed things with the whole relationship thing earlier._

Her gaze then shifted to the red haired girl seated beside Natsu.

 _But I don't want to lose to Erza either._

She knew, as she had known for a while now. She had seen the way the red haired girl looked at Natsu when he wasn't watching, her eyes brimming with love for him. There was no mistake now. Both Mira and Erza were in love with the person, and as much as Mira did not want to admit it, it was something she had to come to terms with. And coupled with that realization, there was only one thing that could be done then.

Smirking, the white haired girl spoke up once more to her rival," Alright then, then let's do this, Erza. I'll revoke my relationship with Natsu, for now. That should put things at an equal playing field between us.

Natsu was in utter confusion. "Huh?"

Erza was more befuddled than him. "What things?"

Coolly, the white haired woman proceeded to walk till where the red haired girl was, a step a time, and when she was finally level with her rival, she lowered her torso partially to look into her eyes. Her hands were placid on her waist. "Nothing too hard. We'll just see which of us is more suited of Natsu's affections by trying to win him over individually.

 **A/N:** There's chapter 3 guys! It was supposed to be up on Wednesday, but ugh life can be a bummer sometimes so I managed to get time to post this today. I hope it turned out okay. Thank you for all the follows, favorites and reviews! Fairy Tail is the best!

As for what Natsu did with accepting Mira's proposal earlier, I don't want anyone to think that was a dick move on Natsu's end. Taking his personality into question, Natsu isn't the kind of person to give much thought to romantic notions. Case in point when Asuka asked him to kiss Lucy in a filler episode, he went to do it immediately without any sign of embarrassment. He didn't see it as something to fret over, but of course that doesn't mean he's indifferent to it either. He's just….Natsu about these things.

And on a much more personal note, oh my goodness today's Fairy Tail episode! Wow, just wow. I have never cried before to anything in any anime like today. Literally, I watched and re-watched that Aquarius goodbye scene with Lucy almost five times, and each time I cried like a little girl. Jesus, talk about pulling on heartstrings. I honestly think this is the best Fairy Tail episode to date, and if they made me cry this much…oh my God I cannot even imagine how the Igneel scene will be (No spoilers of course). Well, that was on a more personal note.

Again, I hope you all enjoy the chapter! Thank you!


	4. Little Things

**Chapter 4**

 **Little Things**

" **When people learn how painful it is being lonely, they start being kind"-** Mirajane Strauss

The sun was already in the sky by the time Erza Scarlet was waking up. Her hair was matted at her sides and covered her eyes a little, and as she brushed the loose strands out of the way, the events that happened last evening resurfaced in her mind.

Before she had gotten a word in protest to Mirajane's sudden challenge regarding Natsu, the white haired girl had stormed off without as much as a backward glance. While Erza could register the sound of the girl's footsteps on the corridor outside, she could swear she could also hear the cackling sound that escaped her visage as well, as if she had already won in the challenge she had dished out to Erza. Somehow that made Erza slightly irate, such that as the pink haired man waved her goodbye to retire to his abode, she could scarce hear him.

Lying in her bed in the young hours of the morning, the red haired girl realized that she was not exactly feeling up to Mirajane's challenge. Perhaps it had been an effect of the moment, but now that she pondered over it, Erza surmised that she wasn't exactly the type of person to compete over someone, much less over something as delicate as their heart. To her slight embarrassment, Erza was not particularly versed in love or workings of the heart, although if she could allow herself some recluse, she knew that she had her heart set on someone at that particular moment.

As she made the last of her preparations for the day, Erza decided that she had to set things straight with Mira as soon as possible. Standing in front of the mirror, she straightened out the loose edges of her hair, and as she looked upon what she had chosen out to wear for the day, which included her usual blue dress and white blouse, she allowed herself a smile to acknowledge her efforts. Closing the door behind her, Erza made for the guild hall, while inwardly thanking the heavens for the pleasant weather that graced the skies of Magnolia that day.

It went without saying, of course, that the first sight that met Erza's eyes as she swung opens the door to the guild entrance, was the sight of the Fairy Tail guild members all doing their own thing as they goofed off in the guild hall. The usual rowdiness that was ever present in the guild was somewhat soothing to her, and on that particular day, she did not feel up to raining on the parade of the guild members. There were bigger fish she needed to fry that morning before anything else, and her eyes traversed the guild hall in search of the Takeover Mage. None of the mages in the vicinity had taken note of the fact that the red haired woman was in the guild hall with them, or if they did, they did not give any sign of it. They were too engrossed in the usual merry making they engaged in, something which Erza decided not to pay any heed to.

She found the white haired mage seated on a particular table a bit secluded from the rest, seated opposite her was her brother. The two seemed to be engaged in a heartily conversation, owing to the giggles that she could see Mirajane exhibit from time to time. Silently, she walked to where the two siblings sat, and once the sound of her footsteps had come to a halt just between the two siblings, Mirajane arched her head sideways to look at her.

She smirked," Heeh, you finally decided to show up huh? What brings you here today?" Her tone just then was condescending and it carried hints of skepticism, something which Erza decided not to ponder on too long.

Clearing her throat, she responded," Can I speak to you in private? There's something important I want to discuss with you."

Mirajane folded her arms on her chest, turning sideways in her chair as she now looked at Erza full on. "What's wrong? You can surely speak about it in my brother's presence, right?"

Elfman seemed as if someone had jerked him upwards by his shoulders owing to the sudden movement of his shoulders. "Siz…."

"It's about Natsu," Erza stated bluntly, cutting through Elfman's weak protest just then. The slight movement she caught of Mira's eyebrows moving upwards made her feel inwardly pleased for a moment, but since the white haired girl had fallen eerily silent, Erza took it as a sign that she was ready to listen to her.

Silently, Mira bobbed her head to the side to look at her brother, and he caught the unspoken message, owing to the way he got up wordlessly and made his way to where the rest of the guild members were. Erza took up his empty seat, and placed her hands on the table pursed together as she regarded the white haired woman opposite her. The two sat in silence for what seemed a second, before Mirajane broke the ice.

"Did something happen to Natsu?" Mirajane asked in a hasty tone, and Erza could read a slight tone of worry in her dark orbs for a moment. She was honestly surprised, it was the first time she had seen the Demon act that way with anyone else, save for her siblings. Perhaps Mira really did treasure Natsu more than Erza had thought initially.

"No, well not that I know of, anyway. The reason I came to talk to you today is because I want you to call off that ridiculous challenge you issued to me last night when I was in my room regarding him," Erza stated bluntly, keeping her gaze affixed on the white haired girl so that she could not miss the stern nature in her words just then.

However, to Erza's surprise, Mira guffawed a little, before she broke out into a laugh. She hit her hand on the table a number of times while keeping the other rested on her side, laughing heartily and her eyes closed, but sure enough Erza could see the small glistening of tears at the edges of the girl's eyes. A vein of irritation popped on Erza's forehead, and for a maddening second she got the impression that Mira was making light of what she had told her, but before she could arch the upper part of her body forward in protest, Mirajane got up and refocused her gaze on the red haired girl.

She smirked again," You're joking, right? I mean, of all the reasons I thought you had come to see me, _which_ was it?" She tilted her head to the side and looked at Erza as if seeing her for the first time," Make no mistake here, Erza, I want Natsu. And I'm not intending on anyone to get in the way of my happiness, even if it's you. I know you've had your eye on Natsu for a while now, and since I'm well aware that there's a chance he might come to fall for either you or me, I want to do this fair. No regrets in the end, for whoever wins or loses. How does that sound now?" She smiled smugly at the red haired girl opposite her, pleased that she was able to finally make Erza see her point.

Still, the red haired knight was adamant on refusing Mira's explanation, no matter how rational the white haired girl sounded at the moment. She was still not sure it was a good idea to decide winning someone over through something as mundane as a bet, since even if the competition wasn't there, one could still try their best to win over the heart of the one they loved, right. Shaking her head, she responded," You may be right, but do we have to decide this via a simple bet? I mean, we can do this normally, right?"

Mira was prepared for this, as the smug smile on her face showed no signs of receding or disappearing. She spoke back in a calm tone," Ho, ho, I think I know what this is about," she edged closer to the red haired girl, raising her torso above the table to look at Erza in the eye," you, you're afraid of losing, aren't you?"

That ticked something in the red haired girl, and a small frown appeared on her lips.

Mira was not quite done yet though. "I should have known. All these years, you always thought that there was no one else who had eyes for him but you, and now that you know there's also me. So now you're afraid that someone is going to steal him away from you, when he was never even yours in the first place," she added on, and the scowl on Erza's visage just grew deeper and wider, much to Mira's pleasure. Inwardly, however, she felt a small tinge of guilt, but she convinced herself that she needed to do this if she was going to want things to be fair and square.

Erza's gaze darkened for a moment and she looked at Mira with her finger tapping dangerously on the table surface. She was beyond vexed at the moment, and a small sigh of exasperation escaped her lips. Was that the only way Mirajane knew how to settle things. As much as she wished to clobber the girl over the head at the moment, she restrained the ever growing urge and managed a brief response. "Huh, what did you say just now?"

Mirajane returned to her seat, and looked to the side, seemingly ignoring Erza's question. "Exactly what you heard." She then got up impromptu from the table, surprising Erza, before adding," I am itching to start this competition right now, but first I'd like to know where Natsu is."

This caught Erza's attention, as she realized that as she studied the guild hall earlier looking for the white haired mage, she did not catch any sign of a mop of pink. A seed of worry sprouted in her heart. "What do you mean?" She asked the white haired mage warily, her heart threatening to leap into her mouth.

Mira responded brusquely, her eyes moving through the guild hall and not sparing Erza a glance," Natsu isn't around." At that moment, however, something seemed to spark in Mira's mind, and she jerked her head to look at Erza, her mouth slightly agape. There was a look of horror on her face. Erza was confused.

"Don't tell me, he slept in your room last night?!" The words tumbled out if Mira's mouth in quick succession, with a tad higher tone than she had been speaking earlier, catching Erza completely off guard. Mira was visited by the shocking thought of Natsu spending the night in Erza's room, as the last place she had seen him was there when she had gone to see the red haired girl. If her fears were proven true, she was not sure how she would take it.

It started with a small red blush on either of Erza's cheeks, but soon enough, her entire face was beet red and she seemed to be releasing steam from the top of her head. Her eyes had turned into swirling messes and she almost seemed as if she was about to melt where she sat. Of all the accusations Mira would make! The fact that Erza had imagined Natsu sleeping in her bed after that accusation by Mira, and her waking up next to him and being blessed with seeing the sight of his well toned body, certainly did not help in abating the growing embarrassment. She struggled to form a coherent response, and surprised herself by how she was able to string a full sentence in her current flustered state.

"What are you talking about?! Why would he even do that?" She raised her hands in the air in a show of weak protest; something that she realized was to no avail as Mira was already a few feet away from the table.

She turned back to look at Erza one last time, placing her hands on her waist. She looked at the red head silently for a few seconds, clearly pondering over something, before finally speaking up," Hmm, judging by the expression on your face, you seem not to know where he is."

She then turned her back to Erza, now looking towards the entrance of the hall.

"Then that works for me."

Wordlessly, she began striding towards the door, leaving a confused Erza to pander over the meaning of her last words. Closing her eyes, the female Mage tried to decipher what Mirajane meant when she said things would work out for her without knowing where the Dragon Slayer was, but luckily enough, she soon realized that the white haired girl was going out to look for Natsu. A grip of worry tightened on her heart, and she immediately got up from her seat, making for the door herself.

As she felt the outside air beat on her skin for the second time that day, a plethora of thoughts were now rushing in her mind.

 _Why do I have to do this?_

The answer came to her soon afterwards, in the form of an image that replayed in her mind of the way she found Natsu and Mira the former day in Mira's room. A pang of pain beat dully at her heart, as she came finally to the realization that she never wanted to see a scene like that ever again. At first she had thought that it would just be a fleeting feeling, no more, but when the pain resurfaced with the memory, she knew that she had been affected more than she had originally thought. She quickened the pace of her footsteps.

 _Mirajane_

From the moment her sister had passed away and Natsu made that memorial stone near the place where he used to hang out with Lisanna, Mirajane had come to associate Natsu with paying at least a visit a day to the memorial stone, much more when he wanted to seclude himself from the other guild members without seeming as if he was avoiding them. Many times she had spied on him standing in front of the memorial stone, saying nothing as the wind billowed past, then after an hour or so, he would quietly make his leave from said area and rejoin the others in the guild hall. It had almost become routine for him at this point, Mira surmised, so as she treaded through the woods to the said area, she was already well assured that she would find him in his usual place.

"Sorry, Erza, but I've won this round," she said to herself silently as she wrested through the last of the bushes that separated the forest from the designated area. Breaking out into open space once more, Mira leaped in joy with her eyes closed as she savored her premature victory.

"Found you!" She exclaimed gleefully, as she landed on the ground, her eyes now open once more as she prepared to meet the satisfying image of Natsu in front of her, like he always was.

Much to her dismay, however, there was no one around in the area, much less at the memorial stone. At first she had thought that he would be in a different place, so she allowed her eyes to cross through the area once again looking for the dragon slayer. Alas, her initial fears were confirmed as she realized that she was the only person there at the moment.

"What, there's no one here yet," she mused with a dismayed tone, her cheeks puffed slightly and her hands resting on her waist. She decided to stop awhile at her sister's gravestone before going to look elsewhere for the pink haired boy, telling her that she needed to pay her respects before going on to anything else that day. As she neared the stone, however, she cringed a little as to how messy the monument now looked.

The effects from the previous evening's rain were all but evident. There was mud covering the monument almost everywhere, probably arising from the erosion of soil near the area. Atop the monument, there were also leaves flailing weakly in the small breeze that was present, most likely brought there by the strong winds that accompanied the downpour the previous evening. To top it off, the flowers that had been placed just next to the head piece of the memorial stone by Natsu were now lying all over the area, narrowly escaping being blown away sky high by the weather. The place was certainly a mess.

Mira shook her head slowly as she assessed the untidy manner of the area. No matter how she looked at it, she couldn't leave the premises just yet. Folding her sleeves to her elbows, she proceeded to work on cleaning up the place. It was one of Natsu's favorites after all.

 _Erza_

It was Erza's first time in front of Natsu's house, and as she stood at his door she was growing increasingly aware of her heart's erratic beating. For five minutes now she had just stood there, not sure at all whether this was the right thing to do or not. Once her internal turmoil had brought up no results, she decided to kick it to the curb and try her chances.

She knocked once, twice, then thrice, but no response sounded on each turn. Her initial thought of course, was that the dragon slayer was asleep, but then again, it was unlike Natsu to sleep through the day. He was usually the first one up at the guild hall, his eyes glued to the mission request board as he searched for any job that would draw his attention.

Erza decided to give up momentarily, walking away from the house as she pondered over where she was going to look for the pink haired man next. A few steps away from the house, though, something clicked inside her, telling her to go back into the house to check for the pink haired man. She was hesitant at first to listen to what her mind was telling her, but since she didn't want to miss a thing, she decided to give it a try.

Placing her hand on the door knob, she hesitantly gave it a push inwards, pleased that Natsu did not lock his door. He wasn't really the type of person for that sort of caution. Light shed into the house slowly from the point where Erza opened the door, and to her dismay, she found that the house was empty. She did not particularly need to go into the deeper levels of the house to search further, she remembered a time in the past when someone in the guild mentioned that Natsu lived in a bedsit.

That was all well and dandy, of course, but what bothered her more at the moment was the untidy manner the house was in. There were blankets lying on the floor, fallen from the couch where Natsu most likely slept all his nights. Looking at the floor, Erza could see a thin film of dust, and the general air in the room was stuffy. She wondered when was the last time Natsu had left his windows open to air his house. Empty containers of food were everywhere, and in the corner of the living room was a large bag, no doubt containing garbage accumulated over a long while.

A little of the stuffy air in the room got into Erza's mouth, and she coughed. Waving away the dust lingering in the air next to her, the red haired girl sighed, before telling herself that there was no way she could leave Natsu's house in the way it was. He was certainly not the type to pay much attention to his hygiene, or even his house's cleanliness.

 _How can he even stay in a place like this?_

One thing that was obvious to the red haired girl though, was that the house needed a thorough clean up.

 **A/N:** Hey guys, I know it's been quite a while before I've updated this story, but luckily this update comes sooner than later. School can be quite vexing at times. I hope this chapter turned out okay, no Natsu, of course, but not yet ;) I want to take a slightly different approach on things in this story, and I hope the chapter title serves as sort of an eye opener to that. So, other than that, I hope you all will enjoy this chapter, thank you so so much for all the follows and favorites, seriously, only 3 chapters in and more than 100 follows and favorites? Wow, just wow, I have no words to express how grateful I am to all of you for this, thank you so much^^ Fairy Tail rules!

On another note, 'Battle of Naked' was a really nice chapter, I think I love Brandish more and more with each chapter she appears, which is quite an amazing thing honestly, so this Alvarez Arc is really, really good. I can't wait to see more!

And on each chapter of this story, and possibly all my Fairy Tail stories in future, I'm planning to include a quote from each Fairy Tail character, because I really love them. You must have seen it in the last update for 'The Dragon Slayer and the Knightess', with the Gray quote, and in this chapter as well with the Mirajane quote. It wasn't exactly a big deal, but I sorta felt like putting it out there^^


	5. Perspective & Change

**Chapter 5**

 **Perspective & Change**

" **When people learn how painful it is being alone, they start being kind."**

 **-** _Mirajane Strauss_

 _Erza_

Half an hour later, Erza was done with cleaning the house of Natsu Dragneel. It was quite a surprising thing, as her initial impression when she first laid eyes on the house was that cleaning it up would take quite a while. Still, it was a relief that it had taken a short time, and she wiped a trail of sweat that was appearing above her brow as her eyes traversed the room.

"Hmm, it's looking good, if I do say so myself," she remarked. Now that she was done however, she realized that she was feeling a tad exhausted than she had been feeling when she first set foot into the house, so her next order of business was definitely going to be a shower.

If only Natsu had a shower in his house though….

A knock was heard on the door at that moment as if in sync with her thoughts, and before she headed to open it she already knew that it was the pink haired Dragon Slayer that had come home.

Natsu's surprised expression when he laid eyes on her, however, proved somewhat amusing to her and she had to suppress a grin.

"Erza? Why are you here?" Natsu asked in a disjointed tone, still caught up in his current stupor. There was a tinge of fear in his voice, and for a moment he was fearful that he had done something wring that had caused Erza to show in person at his home in order to chastise him. The mere thought of it sent shudders through his body.

Luckily enough for him, however, Erza's expression when she looked at him gave no hints of any underlying anger or displeasure. In fact, he could make out traces of glee at the corners of her mouth where she seemed to be wrestling back a smile that wanted to pop out on her face. So he was safe for the moment.

Heaving a sigh of relief, he entered his house, just as Erza answered his earlier query. "I was looking for you," she started," well, I figured you'd be at your house so….." she took a side step to allow Natsu to enter the living room.

The look of amazement on his face as he took in the new form of his house was priceless, and it filled Erza with a surge of pride in her skills. She did not particularly have much experience in cleaning stuff, so she was relieved that she had done well in her cleaning of Natsu's house.

"This is amazing!" The pink haired man exclaimed in a voice beaming with glee, as he darted from corner to corner of the room, inspecting everything and making sure that his eyes were not playing tricks on him. Once he was done, he turned to look at the red haired girl still at the door," Did you do all this?" He asked her in an over eager tone.

Erza nodded brusquely before Natsu continued almost immediately, still caught up in his new found bliss responded," This is amazing! My room has never been this clean before!" His eyes seemed to be sparkling as he said that, something that caused Erza to chuckle a little at how adorable Natsu looked just then.

"Well, it didn't take a lot of time. Although I think I need to shower, I'm feeling a little exhausted," she said, her mind already having rested on her taking a shower as soon as she went to Fairy Hills.

Natsu did not seem to be quite done with how many times he was going to pleasantly surprise her that day, owing to the next answer that he provided her with.

"If it's a shower I can offer that much at least to you," he responded in a non-chalant manner, although inwardly he was glad that he was given a chance to repay Erza for her kind act.

As much as Erza was pleasantly surprised at the prospect, she could not hide her slight disbelief at what she had just learned from Natsu then. "Wait, you actually have a shower?"

Natsu's shoulders slumped a little from the evident lack of faith Erza had shown in him regarding his hygiene. "Look here, what do you take me for?" He said in a slightly dull voice.

He walked to a corner of the room that Erza had missed earlier that had a locked door, and swung it open revealing the shower room. "Here it is."

"Oh." Erza said in a tone of realization. That hadn't been hard.

"You wanted to use it right? Go on," Natsu nudged her on, still bearing in mind her earlier request when she had expressed her fatigue visibly for him to know.

Erza quickly realized that she might have spoken too soon, as a wave of anxiety washed over her and she had to fight the red blush that would have taken over her cheeks either way. She was able to compose herself to answer in a coherent manner, glad that her embarrassment had by no means sneaked into her reply just then," Well, yeah I do, but you seem a little tired so you get to use it first." It was entirely true, as when Natsu had entered the house earlier she had gotten the whiff of an odor from him which was identifiable as sweat.

Natsu still seemed a little hesitant. "You sure?" There was a look of worry and concern on his face as he focused his gaze on the red haired girl, a part of him still hoping that she would take back her earlier decision.

"Yeah, I'll just use it after you. I know where it is now," she managed a weak smile at him to reassure him. Natsu took her up on her offer, shutting the bathroom door behind him. Truth be told, he had lingered longer than he had intended where he had been, and since the sun's rays had bore down on him a tad more harshly than he had wished, he did feel perspiration sinking into his clothes.

Of course, as soon as the pink haired man was out of the sitting room, Erza was glad that she had somehow managed to worm her way out of the almost awkward situation that she had nearly caused. Now it would only be a simple matter of bidding her time and waiting for him to come out, or so she thought, but as soon as she heard the sound of the running water, her patience was already put to the test.

A strange thought perked up in Erza's thought at that moment, said thought telling her that it would be okay if she upped and went to join Natsu in the bath.

It started as a small thought, but the more she tried pushing it back to the annals of her mind, the more the thought persisted in staying. That and her temptation only grew more and more strong. Along with the temptation also came another feeling, which she could not quite explain, but the feeling at hand held her back and prevented her from going on with her initial thought.

Her cheeks blazoned with a deep shade of crimson the more the two feelings battled inside her, her embarrassment itself also increasing with each passing second. She had done this before with him so many times when they were both kids, so what exactly was holding her back this time?

Seated on the couch, she fiddled with her legs and hands nervously as she struggled to make a decision. While the forefront of her mind told her there was nothing wrong with what she was about to do, something nagged at the back of her mind telling her it would change everything between her and Natsu.

After all, they weren't kids anymore.

Things weren't like they were back then.

So then, what were they supposed to be like now?

Erza stood up abruptly from where she was seated; realizing that mulling over things like she was doing now was unlike her. If she wanted to find out, she would have to take that first step herself. Her decision was already made.

It was while she had finally managed to dispel the maelstrom of thoughts that had flooded her mind that she heard the sound of the flowing water stop. A few moments later, the door swung open revealing Natsu, dressed in a fresh set of attire.

Something sunk in Erza at that point, and the embarrassment she had been feeling at the thought of her earlier prospect all but ebbed away to be replaced by a sense of dismay. She had missed her chance. It must have also shown on her face as Natsu called out to her just then.

"Erza?"

She managed to recompose herself in time to look in his direction.

"You were a bit spaced out there. What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Hmm, if you say so then," he paused a little before continuing, "I'm going out for a bit. Want to come?"

The red haired girl beamed up at that question, glad that her earlier feeling of dismay had lingered in her for a short time. "I would love to. But first I need to get cleaned up. Where to?"

"Lisanna's grave."

"Oh," her expression dulled a little, but she was not going to let Natsu get note of it. She continued almost immediately, " Okay then. Tell you what, lemme take a shower first, then from there I'll know whether to meet you there."

"Okay," he walked to the door," Make sure to lock up once you're done."

"I will. Take care," She said to him with a tone of finality, and Natsu waved at her from behind as he closed the door behind him," I'll see you later."

 _Mira_

The white haired girl had just finished cleaning up the tresses of dirt that had settled on her sister's grave stone as the sun settled in the middle of the sky. Once she was done, she took a step back and placed a finger under her chin as she admired her handiwork. A small smile found its way onto her face.

"Mm, it looks good enough," she said, resting both hands on her waist as she finished her analysis.

As the last of her words tumbled out of her mouth, she realized just then what she had just said and she placed a hand over her mouth in embarrassment. "Ara….when did I start becoming so girly?" Whilst Lisanna was still alive, Mira had usually left most of the cleaning duties in the family to her, as she deemed them too girly for her tastes. Of course, Lisanna had not been satisfied with that decision at first, going as far as to try and show her sister how to be more womanly, but after a month of that, she finally gave up as she realized that Mira was a lost cause.

A somber mood came to Mira as the memory replayed in her mind, but it did not linger long. Looking at the grave silently, she settled before it on her knees, and before she knew it, she had started conversing with her sister. It was one sided on her part, but she needed to get a load of her chest that had began settling there since the time she met Natsu at the same spot the previous evening.

"Hey, siz, well I'm here again. Today, I'm alone. Elfman is back at the guild hall, and Natsu is, well…."

She paused momentarily, looking to the side at nothing in particular, and her earlier feeling of satisfaction at her handiwork began waning a little.

"No, that's not true. I'm sorry, I just hope I would find him here."

She turned back to look at her sister's grave once more, and there was a longing look on her face.

"Do you think I'm doing the right thing here? Regarding Natsu, I mean, I know you've always liked him, and I have a feeling Erza has for a while now too, but, this is the only way I know how to fight for him."

For as long as she could remember, Mirajane had always been a really competitive person, something that had stemmed from her still persisting rivalry with Erza Scarlet. The only way that she knew how to win was through having a competition with her adversaries. It wasn't something that she was proud of, but it was the only way she knew how to live. That was why she had issued the challenge to Erza the previous day.

She thought that Lisanna's death would at least change her a little, especially that side of her, but now that she pandered over it, perhaps nothing had changed since back then.

"I wonder if this makes me a bad person," she wondered to herself in a voice that sounded as if she was close to breaking down. Her hands were clasped together in the middle of her crossed legs, and her head was bowed low.

"That's not true," a foreign voice interrupted, and the sudden realization of who it was that spoke up nearly caused her to leap out of her skin.

Flustered, she arched her body backwards to let her eyes rest upon the pink haired man who had spoken to her. She nearly tumbled backwards in her rush to look behind and cast her gaze on her love, but at the same time, a feeling of bliss welled up in her and she felt extremely elated at having seen him.

Just then, a slight fear took hold of her, and for a moment she thought that Natsu had listened in to everything that she had confessed in silence to her sister. A blush crept onto her cheeks. It was a part of her that she had kept secret, and she had not told it to anyone else before. Well, until now, that is if Natsu had indeed heard everything….

"You're here before me today," Natsu said in a slightly upbeat tone, still standing behind her.

Mira didn't reply, waiting for the bombshell to drop for the confirmation that her fears were indeed true.

To her surprise and near shock however, Natsu placed his hands on her shoulders, and her body jerked slightly at the sudden contact. The blush on her face deepened, and she fervently stared at the ground beneath her so that Natsu could not catch any hints that he had embarrassed her, and consequentially she heard the pace of her own heartbeat quicken.

"Heeh, this place looks cleaner than I thought it would be. I thought for sure all the rain from last night would cause it to be muddy," Natsu pauses a little, as if trying to figure out something," It was you who cleaned it, right?"

Mira had a queasy feeling that Natsu was a tad closer than he was supposed to be, even more than when he had rested his hands on her shoulders. True to that, when she mustered the courage to look upwards, she found herself looking into his smiling face, and it was inches away from her own. She couldn't have been more right, and right there at that moment, she felt all her embarrassment wash away and be replaced by a more, fulfilling feeling.

Just then, his smiling face looking down on her was the sun. It took her breath away by how dazzling it was, and she wanted that moment to last forever.

Her reply was stuck in her throat, but luckily for her, Natsu seemed overly eager to continue speaking in the upbeat spirits he was in.

"Thank you, Mira."

That genuine and soft spoken reply just then, was nearly the straw that broke the camel's back for Mira's senses, but luckily enough she was able to keep it together and prevent herself from melting right there and then under her beloved's hold.

"Yeah, I was waiting for you to come." The words emerged tumbling out of Mira before she could weigh them in her mind, but she quickly moved to change the subject before she created an awkward atmosphere with the pink haired man.

"Where were you anyway?" She asked in an impatient tone, looking to the opposite side once more with her cheeks puffed out in an air of defiance.

Natsu released her from under his hold and took his place beside her before responding. "Me? I was at the church to see Lisanna's memorial stone. It was my first time there ever since she had died, so I wanted to see it for myself."

"Is that so?" She said in a nervous tone, and all the bashfulness she had been feeling earlier disappeared with that response from Natsu.

 _Even after all this time, Lisanna is still stuck on your mind._

No, she couldn't allow herself to be disheartened by that. Even if it hurt more than she could bear, she still had to do her best here.

"So, how was the visit?" She asked, finally finding a way to distract herself from the crushing feeling inside her.

Closing his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest, Natsu thought for a little before finally opening his mouth," If I had to choose a word, I'd say noisy."

Mira edged her body closer to the pink haired man. "Hmm?"

"Too many people were coming in and out of the church, so I couldn't be in peace," Natsu continued, catching Mira's earlier hint for him to continue explaining.

The white haired mage chuckled a little, before saying," Well, I'm sure it wasn't all that bad. You got to see the grave, right?"

"Well, if I could say one good thing that came out of this, it's that I realized I loved this place better than there," Natsu responded.

Somehow that reply was able to set Mira at ease, although she could not quite say why. Perhaps it was the realization that this way, she would spend a lot more time with Natsu at that special spot.

"What about you? What were you up to all morning?" Natsu turned to look at her, asking her in kind.

 _Looking for you._ "Nothing much, I just got here actually," she said in a nonchalant manner. Just then, however, her stomach let out a low guttural sound, betraying her.

She hadn't really gotten much to eat since the previous evening, now that she thought about it, since she had a lot weighing on her mind then, but talking with Natsu and spending time with him in that short period had managed to calm her. She had one more thing to thank him for in that regard.

A moment of silence passed before Natsu asked," Wanna get something to eat? I think I worked up quite an appetite with all the walking I did today."

Mira let out a sigh of relief, glad that Natsu had at least the decency not to probe at her regarding what had made her stomach grumble just then. It would have been extremely embarrassing for her if he did.

Getting off the ground, she dusted herself before stretching her arm out to Natsu to help him off the ground, "It will be my treat." She was glad that she was getting a chance to spend the afternoon with Natsu like this.

 **A/N:** For all those people who think that Mira is OOC in this story, I'd like to remind you all that when she was young she had this side to her, a tomboyish and competitive side to her, with a small trace of rebellion to her. While it is true that she changed after Lisanna's death, I'd like to believe that the changes occurred gradually and overtime, until she became the darling that we all know today ;)

Other than that, I'm really glad how this chapter turned out, I think it's one of the chapters I had the most fun writing and planning out, and I hope I was able to portray both Mira and Erza equally and give them both ample time with Natsu. I believe that Mira should interact more with him since Natsu and Erza have been friends a long time, and his interactions with Mira before were usually as a result of Lisanna, but still, you have to wait and see how things unfold, right?

Enjoy the chapter folks!

P.S: NATSU AND ZEREF HYPE TOMORROW I CAN'T WAIT!


	6. Lunch with Mira-san

**Chapter 6**

 **Lunch with Mira-san**

 **"It is always sad to part with those whom you love but your companions will help you bear that sadness."**

 **-** Erza Scarlet

It was Natsu's first time having lunch, or any meal of the sort for that matter, with the white haired mage. The walk to the restaurant had taken quite a while, and Mira seemed to have picked out somewhere in mind. Unknown to Natsu however, part of the reason Mira had chosen where they were going to eat was simply to allow herself more time to converse with the Dragon Slayer. The place in mind was not exactly fancy by any means, but still quite a number of people entered and exited from the entrance.

Of course, Mira was elated at the prospect of sharing a meal with her beloved, owing to how giddy she sounded as they were en route. Natsu did his best to keep up his end of the conversation, but the fact that he could feel his stomach growling in hunger with each step he took did not help the situation. Still, he figured that it would be rude to show her how uncomfortable he was, so he did his best to maintain his usual demeanor.

However, Mira would soon come to realize that dining together with the pink haired mage would be a deal greater than she asked for. However she would take it was anyone's guess, really.

Feeling especially generous that day, Mira had decided to buy a full course meal for the Dragon Slayer, having a general idea of how ravenous his appetite was going to be. She kept her fingers crossed however, since she already knew how things were going to happen. Natsu was probably going to eat till he was full and couldn't have anymore, before passing out on the chair he was in and prompting Mira to have to haul him home. Originally the thought had scared her little and she wondered how people would take it seeing her carrying him on her back, but before long she came to realize that it didn't exactly matter much what people thought of her, as long as she was having fun doing what she was doing. For herself, she ordered a contrastingly lighter meal, accompanied by a glass full of her favorite juice on the side. She had just had her breakfast in the guild hall that morning, so she was not feeling particularly hungry at the moment.

Nothing was going to prepare her for what was going to happen next.

Unlike her, who was silently partaking of her meal, Natsu was currently engaged in his meal like a man who had not seen a proper dish in decades. He slurped at all the drinks and juices that were placed before him like a man possessed, inadvertently spilling some to the table and also to his surroundings. Occasionally, he came close to spilling some in Mira's direction, but luckily enough he never blundered that far off. As for the food, he gobbled from each and every plate that he could get his hands on; filling his mouth to an extent that Mira did not think was humanly possible. Tearing, swallowing and biting into every delicacy around him, he gave Mirajane an idea of just how ravenous he could be.

For a moment, she forgot that she was supposed to be eating herself, and her food lay untouched below her as she marveled at the site before her, her eyes arched upwards in mild surprise. To say she was befuddled by Natsu's eating habits would be sort of an understatement, but more than that, she was slightly amused. This was a side of Natsu that she rarely got to see, owing to the fact that Natsu rarely had any of his meals in the guild hall, so she had never been privy to him eating before.

"You always eat this much?" Mira found herself asking, once her curiosity had spiked to a level where she couldn't control it anymore.

Originally, when she had ordered the meal for Natsu, her intention had been well placed to treat him, and she had half expected him to eat till a level where he was full, then he would leave part of the meal untouched. This went hand in hand with her image of him being unable to move after gorging himself silly, but now that she saw it for herself she was sorta glad that he was still in top shape. This meant that they could spend more time talking and enjoying each other's company.

Natsu, who was too caught up in his momentary pleasure, was luckily able to register Mira's question before it flew over his head. Looking up from his plate, he caught the look of awe on Mira's face, and all of a sudden he seemed to remember himself, feeling slightly ashamed that he had given the impression of forgetting her this entire time. There were morsels of food on his cheeks, and his mouth was half full of food at the moment.

Normally, such an image would put off Mira if it was by someone else, actively deeming it as unsightly as she had done several times in the guild whenever someone had pulled off something disgusting before her. Surprisingly, at the moment, she found herself not minding Natsu's face at the moment.

"Mmm, yeah I do." Natsu said, pausing for a moment as he tried to recall something. Swallowing the food, he proceeded," Ah, sorry about this. I sort of missed out on breakfast this morning. It slipped my mind with the whole cathedral thing."

"I don't mind at all." Mira counted them lucky since despite how full the hotel was at the moment, no one seemed to be overly concerned with what was happening over at their table, despite the ruckus she was cock sure Natsu was raising. All the other customers seated at the other tables were currently indulged in whatever they had come to do there, so this meant that they could converse in peace. Mira arched her body forward. "But, how are you able to live alone with Happy if that's the case?"

Natsu titled his head to the side, his food half forgotten before him. "About that, well the thing is, most of the jewels we get from all the jobs we take go to food. So well, there you have it."

A look of understanding dawned on Mira's face, as she took everything that the pink haired man was saying. That seemed to explain a lot in regards to how Natsu was the most enthusiastic in the guild as far as jobs were concerned.

On the other hand, she remembered how she was somewhat different from the pink head in regards to jobs. All the jewels that she got from the various jobs she went on went to the upkeep of her family. Well, what was left of it any way. Occasionally in the past Lisanna or Elfman would do a job on their own in an attempt to assist her, but once Mira had gotten wind of this she had told them off, insisting that they didn't need to push themselves as she was just doing fine herself. Of course, this had resulted in a string of arguments from Lisanna, who told her older sister that there was no harm if they wanted to help her out sometimes. Ultimately, this had led to the three of them coming to a common mind set where they had agreed that on certain occasions, they would do jobs together as a family. Even if Lisanna was gone now, Mira still had a duty towards their brother, as their older sister.

She stirred idly at the orange juice that had rested untouched at her side for a while, before bringing up the glass to her lips. "I see. Well then, now that that's out of the way, when will you be able to go back to taking jobs….?" She stopped talking halfway before her sentence was done, casting her gaze downwards and a glum expression adorning her visage.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

She muttered this to herself more than anybody, in a subdued tone, but unknown to her Natsu had caught wind of what she had just said.

From across the table, the Dragon Slayer took note of her momentary lapse in speech, and looked up at her. He recognized that sullen look on her face from seeing it one too many times in the past. There was a pang of guilt in his gut as he knew that he was the indirect cause of what she was feeling at the moment.

Stretching his hand across the table, he placed a hand on top of Mira's free one, causing her to jerk slightly from the sudden motion. She offered no resistance, however, and allowed Natsu to place his hand on top of hers. As oblivious as Natsu always was, he never did notice the faint shade of red on her cheeks. She turned her head to look at where her beloved had his hand on hers, as she felt the warmth from him course into her hand.

"Hey, it's okay. You can talk about it. It's not as sore a topic as it was in the past," Natsu said, as he pressed on her hand lightly with his own, wrapping her petite fingers in his much larger grip. It was an attempt to reassure her, something he hoped would work in this scenario, as he did not want to be the cause of being a downer when she had generously offered to treat him to lunch.

Ever since Lisanna had passed away, everyone in the guild had silently assented to not mention her or anything in relation to her around Natsu, in respect of his feelings to her. The Dragon Slayer, in turn, following from the shock that he had received when he had learned of the young girl's passing away, had not gone on as many jobs as he had in the past, possibly in an attempt to heal his heart.

Mira had also agreed to let him recover at his own pace, albeit unknown to him. But with what she had let slip from her mouth, it was as if she was rushing him into recovering to satiate her own curiosity. The Take Over Mage felt terrible about what she had done, and was about to let her grief wash over her, but fortunately, Natsu was more welcoming than hostile regarding the issue.

It was times like this when she remembered how easy Natsu made it for her to fall in love with him.

She looked up at him, a relaxed expression on her face as she felt herself mustering confidence from the reassurance she got from Natsu. There were the traces of a smile at the edges of her lips, and Natsu, noticing this, smiled satisfactorily before nodding at her. He then withdrew his hand from her and folded both his arms across his chest, making himself comfortable as he prepared to answer Mira's earlier question.

"Actually, about that, I've been thinking that I should go for a job soon. Just to keep my mind off….things."

Truth be told, it had been something that he had been mulling over for a while now, as he had come to the conclusion that he couldn't stick around static forever, Lisanna would be livid with him if she ever caught wind of this. And somehow, when Mira had asked him the question now, he seemed to have finally found the answer he had needed.

The answer had come as a bit of a shocker to Mira, who find it hard to hide the surprise she was feeling at the moment as her eyes widened a little. Despite her surprise however, she was sort of glad that Natsu seemed well on the way to recovery, being well open to the prospect of going on a job soon.

It was something that she had genuinely been looking forward to for a while now, even if she had not confessed it to anyone.

"I…. see…"she started hesitantly, not sure whether she should let out all the elation she was feeling at that moment and bring it out on the table in front of her companion. That, plus how on earth she was going to bring forth the idea that had been nagging at the forefront of her mind now. "Then, in that case, how about coming on a job with me tomorrow?" She asked, her hesitation seeping into her voice a little too obviously this time.

 _He's definitely going to refuse, I know it._

"Sure."

 _I knew it._

Yep, she had definitely misheard that.

Her reaction just then, as much as Natsu's response, was so instantaneous that it even shocked her as well.

Her hands were already on the table separating her and the pink haired man, half her body arched forward as her face drew inches closer to Natsu.

"Are you sure? Really sure about this?" The words came out as a flurry from her mouth, and all traces of her previous hesitation were all but gone. Her tone was riddled with disbelief.

When she had first poised the question, she had half expected him to decline her offer, and she would have gladly understood. He accepts her invite so none chillingly seemed something out of her wildest dreams.

The sudden gesture from the girl had thrown Natsu off a bit, but he was soon able to recompose himself to answer. "Yeah, besides hanging out with you are fun!" He flashed his trademark grin just then, causing her to nearly melt in her seat out of sheer bliss.

She smiled back at him heartily, and felt as if her heart was about to swell with happiness. First, there was him accepting her invite to lunch earlier that day, and now, he had just accepted to go on a job with her the following day. It was as if the heavens themselves were shining on her that day.

"Great! Then it's a promise!" She stretched out the pinky of her right hand towards the pink haired mage, a habit that she had picked up from her younger sister. Lisanna had taught her to use it whenever she wanted to make someone promise to something and have them not break it at any costs.

It went without saying, of course, that Lisanna had also taught the same to Natsu, so Mira wasn't at all surprised when he also brought forth his own pinky forward.

"It's a promise."

 _Later on that evening_

Ever since he had assented to accompany Mira on her job the following day, the rest of the day had gone on like a roller coaster. Natsu was really grateful to Mira, he could not remember the last time he had that much fun in a single day. He didn't mind being taken out again like that by the white haired mage.

Alas, all things had to come to an end, but even if the lunch date had come to an end with the setting of the sun, he always had the job the following day to look forward to.

When he swung the door to his house open, the room was bathed in darkness, causing him to fumble a bit before he found the switch. Once his eyes had adjusted to the lighting in the room, they came to rest upon the form of a red haired girl on his couch.

Something clicked in his mind just then, a particular issue that he had seemed to be foregoing the whole day resurfaced in his mind.

As he stared at Erza's sleeping form, a feeling of guilt crept up into his gut, as he reflected on the fact that he was supposed to wait for her at the grave stone. Still, he was glad that she had seemed not to have left the house ever since he had left her there preparing herself in the morning. It could be looked at as a good thing, since she was spared the dismay of not finding him at where he had said he would wait for her.

At that moment however, a queer smell wafted into his nose, and when he traced the aroma to its source, he found two plates placed on the table adjacent to where the couches were placed.

The plates contained rice & curry, a simple dish by his standards, but as soon as his eyes darted between Erza and the meal, everything suddenly seemed to make sense.

The reason that Erza did not leave the house seemed to be tied to the food. Natsu smiled to himself softly, touched by the red haired girl's thoughtfulness, before he went into a separate room.

Moments later, he showed up with a spare duvet in hand, dappling it over the red haired girl. She shifted her body slightly in response to the fabric, and for a moment Natsu feared that she would wake up, but luckily her eyes did not open and she soon settled back into her comfort zone.

Once he was sure that she was comfortable, he moved to where the dishes were placed but not before leaving Erza with her final resting words for the night.

"Good night, Erza."

 **A/N:** Aye and there's your early Christmas gifts folks! The chapter should actually have been up yesterday, but something came up so I had to delay the update. But still, better late than never, right? I hope you guys love the chapter, and Happy Holidays to all of you! Thank you, thank you for all your support, I promise that this story will only continue to get better and better.

P.S: Isn't the Alvarez arc just amazing, guys? No seriously, I had to let this out, but honestly, this arc is the best thing for me at the moment, I thought Tartaros was amazing, but wow, this takes the cake entirely. Too many people I love, and God Serena is definitely a winner for me with those swaggsty moves of his. Best girl? A tie between Brandish and DiMaria, but at the moment the scales seem to be tipping towards Dimaria.

Save Brandish 2k16!


	7. Mystery

**Chapter 7**

 **Mystery**

The first thing that Natsu Dragneel picked up on when he felt himself slowly drift out of sleep was the aroma of something delicious. The sweet smell wafted into his nostrils, causing him to shift uncomfortably in bed as he struggled to retain the last winks of sleep that were still present in his body. After a short and futile battle in which he realized that he could not exactly beat the growing feeling of hunger inside him, he decided to give in and open his eyes wide enough to catch the rays of light that had made their way into his room.

For a moment, he was a tad lost and confused, as he wondered where the smell had stemmed from, before he quickly jolted upwards from his bed, his sense of danger tingling.

His mind was still in a mess and jumbled in confusion from his previous half asleep state, and he could now feel the smell that had caught his attention better. Preparing him mentally and physically for anything that would happen so that he would not get caught by surprise, it took him quite a while to reorganize his thoughts and remember that at that moment, he wasn't exactly alone in the house as had been his initial thought when he had woken up.

A flash of red hair, accompanied by a slumbering girl went through his mind, and he felt his muscles ease up a little as his earlier sense of danger abated. Heaving a sigh of relief, he got off his bed and headed towards the source of the aroma, his heart feeling lighter and a gleam crossing his eyes.

The seating room was pretty much the same way he had left it when he had returned home the previous evening, something he was grateful for since he didn't exactly relish the thought of walking into an untidy room so early in the morning. However, there was one thing that was currently missing from the room that Natsu did not like. The room's inhabitant, at least for the previous evening and night, was no longer there.

In Erza's place, the blanket that Natsu had covered her with the previous evening with was cleanly folded and placed on the couch where the red haired girl was sleeping on. From how neat the couch looked, one could not tell that someone had rested there a few minutes ago, and despite his initial disappointment, Natsu did have to admit that he was impressed with how cleanly Erza managed to clean after herself.

The Dragon Slayer felt his heart sink a little when he looked around and realized that Erza was nowhere to be found, and a pout made its way onto his visage, upon which a smile was etched moments before as he relished the chance of happening upon Erza's face the first thing in the morning. It seemed as if his plans were not going to bear fruition and his day wasn't going to start as brightly as he had envisioned it in his room earlier.

Well, he would get to meet her again soon. For now….

As if driven by impulse, Natsu's eyes automatically veered in the direction of the table, and simultaneously, as if waiting for that chance, a low growl erupted from his stomach.

Towards the middle of the room after the couch where Erza was, the table that had been placed there, a piece of furniture that was seldom used, but only bought since Natsu did not particularly like the empty feeling the house had prior, was certainly being put to good use at the moment. And it didn't need to be mentioned, but all that was happening at the moment was all thanks to Erza Scarlet.

The red haired girl had certainly not held back at all with what she had done, and quite the meal had been prepared and set on the table. It was such a grand sight that for a moment Natsu feared that all that wasn't meant for him, but since there was no one else in the house at that moment save for him, his doubts were soon put to rest. The table in question was currently littered with what would be considered a king's meal. All sorts of delicacies, ranging from small ones such as bread, to more medium ones such as bacon and fried eggs ran from one end of the table to another, and for once in his life, Natsu genuinely began doubting whether it would be possible to wolf all of that down. Which was definitely a cause for concern, especially when it came to Natsu, who could practically much gobble up anything edible that was placed in front of him.

Despite his amazement and elation at the gift that was placed before him, Natsu had to smile beside himself. A thought then sparked in his mind, and he wondered whether after all the time he had spent with Erza, she had gotten an understanding of his voracious appetite and how much he liked eating. Somehow this thought made him feel warm inside, and he made a mental note to show his appreciation to the red haired girl the next time he ran into her. Who knew, perhaps he could also prepare a meal himself for her and surprise her with it when they were together. Even if he wasn't entirely confident in his culinary skills, it was still worth a shot.

Alternatively, there was always the option of getting her favorite thing in the world, aside from her guild mates and guild: cake. And not just any cake, of course, it had to be strawberry cake. Hmm, perhaps that would be more effective than cooking, which he was sure had minimal chance of success anyway. Yes, that was it. His mind was made up. The next time he ran into Erza, he would gift her with strawberry cake to show her his gratitude for going out of her way to prepare something like this for him.

His mind made up, and the pangs of hunger growing stronger in him, he rushed hungrily to the table, prepared to satiate his increasing state of hunger. Before he could begin to partake of the contents of the table, a small note peered out at him from one end of the table, hanging so dangerously there that one had to wonder how it hadn't fallen by that point. Curiosity got the better of the pink haired man, and he immediately reached for the note.

"Something came up, so I had to leave without saying goodbye. Don't worry though; I'll make sure I'm back soon enough. In the meantime, enjoy the breakfast I made for you.

Love, Erza."

A small smile slowly made its way onto his face, and he felt his heart grow with affection for the red haired girl for the second time that day. In all his years of knowing Erza, he had never known that she had such a side to her. Come to think of it, perhaps he had not gotten to see her act this way till now.

Crumpling up the note, feeling his spirits for the new day relit once more, he proceeded to gorge down the breakfast, making sure not to leave any of the food there untouched.

 _A few hours later_

The duo of Mira and Natsu were well on their way outside Magnolia, all set and ready for the job that Mira had decided on the day before. Upon Natsu's back lay his usual travelling gear, completely accompanied by his sleeping bags and everything he deemed would be necessary for the trip. Mira was in the same boat as Natsu, albeit with much lesser luggage on her back. She was dressed in her usual garb, which consisted of a dark, skimpy sleeveless shirt adorned with some motifs on the chest, a pair of leather shorts held up by a studded belt with a demonic-looking buckle and thigh-high boots with stiletto heels, each bearing a skull adorned by a flower on their upper front parts. In her hand, she clutched the parchment which contained the details of the job.

Luckily enough, earlier that day, Natsu had been able to make it in time to meet her outside the guild hall for the job, so they had saved on a lot of time and had set out in the time frame that Mirajane had intended. All in all, it seemed that things were going well so far in the day, and the white haired woman was content with that.

As the two embarked upon a particularly steep hill which was in the direction of the village they were headed to, Natsu felt it was as good a time as any to inquire the details of the job from Mira. Now that he pondered on it, whilst he had no problems accompanying her, he had no idea what the job entailed. Which was not necessarily a bad thing of course, but someone like Natsu didn't like being left in the dark for too long especially when it came to matters like this.

"Hey Mira, so what's the job involving?"

Mira, who was busy skimming through the contents of the parchment for the umpteenth time, turned to look at Natsu, this time having a clear understanding of what exactly the job entailed.

"Sorry, I should have told you earlier," She started off in her usual tone, before continuing," In this mission, there's been a string of disappearances in a neighboring town. Over the past week or so, each night, a villager or two disappears from their home without any trace. Their families and loved ones have carried out searches for them, but nothing turns up completely. Apparently, the phenomenon is akin to vanishing off the face of the earth."

The pink haired Dragon Slayer took in what Mira was saying, letting the depth of the situation sink in, before he proceeded to ask another question," What do you think has happened to them?" There was a pensive look on his face, and he felt as if this situation was going to turn out different from what he had initially expected. Originally, he had expected not to expend so much energy in the mission, as he had thought Mira had picked up something relatively easy, but it seemed as if that was not going to be the case.

"I don't know. It could be the anything really." Mira responded, as she proceeded to stow away the parchment to where her backpack was, before restoring her attention to Natsu." But what's on my mind right now is probably kidnapping."

Natsu, who had his gaze focused on Mira as she responded to his question with his hands resting behind his head, restored his vision to what lay ahead of him, where the vestiges of a small residence were coming into view from what lay atop the hill.

A small grin broke out onto his visage, and all of a sudden he found himself filling up with enthusiasm for whatever mission was ahead of them. Whatever Mira had just told him was certainly disturbing for sure, but if he dwelled on it longer than was necessary, it would shift his focus to elsewhere, and that was not a luxury he could afford at the moment. For now, all he needed to do was focus on what lay ahead of him and Mira.

He punched both of his fists together in a final attempt to reassure himself, before remarking in his usual confident upbeat tone," Okay! Let's get this job done with so that we can go back home!"

Mira smiled softly at him, before nodding back in kind to him and falling in step beside him as the pace of his footsteps quickened.

Despite all their bravado and enthusiasm regarding what lay ahead of them, nothing would have prepared them for what they found.

Standing atop the hill, with the town in full view, Natsu had his mouth wide agape, his eyes transfixed on something beyond him, somehow seeing and not seeing at the same time.

 **A/N:** Finally! Well I am glad that chapter was able to make it to 2k words, when I began it I was a little fearful that it wouldn't make it, but luckily, it was just the right amount of words.

Now, first things first, allow me to apologize for the extended delay in uploading this chapter. Ever since the new semester started I have been so stocked for time and it is so difficult to free up time to write, that's why all my stories are on a small hiatus at the moment, for that I deeply apologize. But the holidays are coming up soon, so when that happens, except an update on a weekly basis like before.

With that, I hope you guys enjoy the story, and till the next update.

ALVAREZ HYPE!


	8. A Silent Town

**Chapter 8**

 **A Silent Town**

Capturing Natsu Dragneel by surprise wasn't entirely an easy task, owing to the fact that the Dragon Slayer could be a pretty unpredictable person in his manner of action and behavior. This was coming from someone who would always challenge the strongest S-class wizard in the guild at every chance he got, and even when faced with overwhelming power in the form of Crash Magic, it only proved to excite him more and look for more fights with the red haired man. Owing to that singular fact, it went without saying that whatever had Natsu had his eyes glued on at said moment that had his mouth wide agape was something pretty extraordinary.

What he had his eye on at said moment and that had left him absolutely speechless was a large rift in the air space above the village. It wasn't just any normal rift for that matter as well. The space in the sky seemed to coalesce into a series of spirals, giving rise to what was shaped like a vortex. There were no visible clouds or any other weather masses of the kind within the open air, and it only seemed to accentuate the oddity of the situation.

"What the hell is that?"

Mira herself had fallen into a stunned silence beside the man, her attention also fixated on the phenomenon that was occurring above the town where they were supposed to be in. A memory stirred within the depths of her mind.

 _Is that…? No, it couldn't be…_

She shook her head slightly from side to side to dissipate the thoughts that she had no idea where they had come from, before refocusing her attention to the pink haired male beside her.

"Come on, let's not just stand here." There was no hint of the usual merriness in her voice when she addressed her teammate, but she knew well enough that he would understand how serious the mission was now.

With that said, the two descended the hill, their sights set on the town before them, while making sure to pay attention to the surrounding terrain to look if there were any other anomalies. Fortunately, there were no other features that stuck out like a sore thumb, but even then, that did little to abate the tone that the mission had now taken. From here on out, anything and everything was bound to happen.

X

To add to the contrast of the state of the sky overhead the two now, the town seemed to be in a far more docile state. Of course, that still wasn't enough to shake the growing sense of unease that Natsu and Mirajane felt with each step they took into the town. It had only been a few steps that they took into the place from the main entrance, but somehow the state of the place seemed to make each and every subsequent step heavier than the other.

Needless to say of course, there were seldom any living souls out in the streets of the town making merry and making the town as active as Magnolia was. It seemed that the recent string of disappearances in the town had taken its toll on the townspeople more than what met the eye. As the duo walked around, they noticed that the town itself had a traditional layout, which was only made more evident with the huts that provided the residential areas for the villagers. There were not as many shops or commercial centers set up within the place, giving the indication that the town wasn't entirely all that big on commercial activities.

A few paces into the residence however, Natsu halted in his motion, something that alerted Mirajane behind him. The pink haired man raised his nose into the air, taking whiffs of the air around him, all this with a keen expression adorned on his face.

"What's wrong?" Mira inquired; as soon as she realized Natsu had stopped concentrating on whatever it was that had perked his interest within the atmosphere.

"Wasn't this supposed to be a human town?"

Mira bobbed her head in confusion, wondering what Natsu was getting at with the random query. "Yeah, it is. What did you find out?"

Natsu paused momentarily in thought, placing a hand on his chin as he responded, "I can't exactly place my finger on it but there are scents of magic that are spread around the entire town, but they don't seem to be particularly recent or lingered here for long. Why would there be magic signatures within a human town?"

"What does that…?" Natsu held up a hand beside him to silence the white haired woman who was about to ask more about the matter.

"Someone's coming."

There was the soft sound of something tapping the ground, slowly nearing the duo of mages from the area just ahead of them. The two braced themselves for whatever was about to show up, Mira having already come to the conclusion that it might have to do with whatever had caused the town to fall into a rather eerie state. Perhaps this job wasn't going to take as long as the initial impression of it had been.

Moments later, an old man appeared from the corner of a nearby building, the sound being proven to appear from a wooden cane he was using to walk with. He had a healthy shade of white hair on his head and on his chin, and owing to his hunched back; it was evident that he had clearly seen his fair share of years. He was headed in the opposite direction that Natsu & Mira were headed to.

As soon as he saw the duo of mages, he stopped in his movements, inching his head upwards to look at the mages. A flicker of recognition crossed his sight for a moment, before he opened his mouth to address the two.

"Ah, those insignias, are you mages from Fairy Tail? I could have sworn there was another one of you here….."

The old man wasn't allowed to complete his sentence however, because moments later, as soon as Natsu was done checking out all the magical signatures that were scattered throughout the town, he immediately moved to address the old man. He didn't seem entirely interested in whatever the old man was saying earlier, his mind more endorsed with whatever was going on at said moment. Usually, whenever interacting with new people he met in a town, he would always carry himself amiably and bear an expression mirroring this on his visage, but this time, there was a stern expression on his face.

"Old man, tell us exactly what happened here."

Mira, who was about to ask what the old man meant with his earlier unfinished remark before Natsu cut him off, picked up on Natsu's stark change in mood and tone subtly, realizing that it gravitated the seriousness of the entire situation even more. She chose not to say anything about the matter, waiting patiently for the old man to answer the question Natsu posed to him earlier.

Lowering his head, a look of remorse muddled with slight pain washed over his visage, and for a moment Mira thought that old wounds might have been reopened by Natsu's earlier bluntness. Luckily enough for them, the old man was able to respond with a surprisingly stoic voice, something that reassured Mira as she moved in closer to listen keenly to whatever he had to say.

"It's exactly as you read in the job description. Several of our residents have been disappearing over the last couple of weeks. And it happens on such a random basis, so it's difficult to stop the disappearances or issue out warnings to the residents to keep them safe. That's not the only issue however. As soon as the disappearances persisted over a while without any visible signs of help coming, some people have decided to move out of the town, feeling that it's becoming a little unsafe to stay there."

The Take Over Mage listened intently to the old man as he explained the entirety of the situation to them, but as he continued, it became harder and harder to pay attention. Of course, this was due to none other than Natsu's restless nature besides her and the old man at the moment.

She didn't want to take her attention away from the old man as she felt as if there wasn't enough information to go by, so she allowed Natsu to continue dappling in whatever he was doing while refocusing her gaze to the old man.

The earlier magical traces that seemed to be spread around the town immediately made Natsu realize that there was something else that he might have been overlooking. This time, he refocused his energy on sniffing out the traces of magic within the town, deciding to let Mira handle discussions with the old man. He was never good at things that required too much information anyway.

True to his earlier gut feeling, when he did a check of the town the second time, he realized that the traces of magic were spreading out from the inner region of the town. There were hardly any traces of magic towards the inner part of the town. It was as if it was…..secluded.

Immediately picking up on this, Natsu refocused his attention to the old man, a plethora of questions already forming in his mind.

"When exactly did the disappearances start? Were there any changes in the town?"

The white haired man, who was busy in conversation with Mira, immediately shifted his attention to the pink haired boy. A wrinkle appeared on his eyebrows as he pondered over the answer to give the man, and a few minutes later there was a pensive look as he delved into the recesses of his recent memory.

"Hmm, I'm not entirely sure exactly when it started, but now that you mention it, I do remember something new that happened in the town recently. A new resident joined us. Of course, our town is small, so we didn't really mind having someone new among us. He's a really jolly fellow, always willing to socialize with the town residents, and we genuinely enjoy having him around."

A short pause.

The old man seemed to be struggling to say something, or rather trying to debate whether to tell Natsu & Mira about something that had just surfaced in his mind then. Shifting his gaze between the two of them, he decided that since they had decided to take all the trouble to come to the town, they were worth trusting.

"But, a while back he started acting strange, well according to the people who lived next to him."

"Strange?" Mira asked, her arms folded at her chest. She had the weird feeling that somehow; slowly by slowly they were getting closer to the root of the problem.

"Yes. At night, he tended to lock himself away in his home, and anyone who wanted to pay him a visit at night would always find the door barred. That in itself wasn't wrong; there are people who prefer their own privacy at all. But, some people did report that sometimes when they got close to his home, they were able to hear chants coming from inside his house. In a language that they couldn't even identify or words that seemed entirely foreign to them, or at least foreign to the language he used when interacting with the town residents in daytime."

Mira took in each and every word the old man said, before chiming in her thoughts about the matter. Somehow she felt as if that wasn't much of a lead to go by, the realization disappointing her slightly.

"Couldn't that just be a case of sleep talking?"

The old man's face retained the pensive nature it had for a while now, as he calmly responded to the white haired mage's query just then.

"Maybe….but, if the disappearances started around the moment he appeared…"

"Hmm…."Mira remarked, placing a hand under her chin, before she decided that it was a little too much to think by herself. She cocked her head to face her teammate who had finally stopped pacing in the area next to her. "Natsu, what do you think of the matter?"

The Dragon Slayer's mind seemed to be elsewhere at said moment though, as he turned his head to look at the old man, feeling as if he had finally managed to weed out the problem at hand.

"Where's the recent guy's house?"

The question caught the old man by surprise, but he was still able to recollect himself and respond to it. "It's in the middle of the town. Why ask?"

He didn't respond to the old man, this time instead turning to face Mira.

"I'm going to check this out. Sorry Mira, I'll be right back!"

His curiosity had finally gotten the better of him, and he didn't wait for a response from either Mira or the old man, instead storming off in the direction where the old man had pointed out, somewhere he figured the smell of magic would be weakest. He just couldn't get over the awry feeling he had gotten ever since entering the town.

Surprisingly enough, Mira wasn't entirely disappointed by Natsu's impromptu leave; on the contrary, she was somewhat amazed at the straight forward approach that he had taken to the matter. She smiled slightly to herself a little, musing to herself about how Natsu never changed.

In that event, she also had to do her own part as well.

She turned back her attention to the old man, who also seemed to have been surprised by Natsu's sudden outburst.

"In the meantime, could you show me a few of the houses that were affected by the disappearances?

 **A/N:** Okay so a few pointers about this chapter to alleviate mild confusion that may occur, when I used the term Natsu 'smelled' magic traces, I was taking into account the trait we saw from him when he fought Future Rogue and said that he smelled evil, or when he ran into Silver in Cube and said that he smelt like Gray. Natsu has also been shown to be able, to an extent, sense magical signatures, from other people.

Regarding the final part of the chapter where he stormed off in order to deal with the 'problem' himself, Natsu has always shown a sense of selfishness in his actions sometimes, for example in Sun Village, when he, Gray, Lucy & Wendy were fighting the Treasure Hunters, as soon as he picked up on a sound coming from the molten ice, he immediately followed the trail and trusted the rest to finish the fight.

Other than that, I have pretty mixed feelings about the chapter, not entirely sure how I feel about it, but I'm glad it turned out exactly as I had envisioned it in my mind.

Enjoy!


	9. Scuffle

**Chapter 10**

 **Scuffle**

From what she could pick up out of all the houses that she had just frequented as part of her investigation on the town, a good number of the town residents had already evacuated. Then it was exactly as the old man had put it.

Realistically, it would be impossible for anyone to stay in the town anymore in the light of all that had happened.

That meant that they had to deal with the current problem, and fast.

The choice few people who were left behind were too scared to answer any questions that the white haired mage had for them coherently, so even that sector turned out to be a lost cause. In the case where the affected were a small family or turned out to be relatives, they would all be huddled up in one corner of the house, too frightened to move. It was expected after all, since no one knew when or where the disappearances were going to occur next.

Watching these families struggle to stay alive and stay together after all this time brought back distant memories of her earlier days with Elfman and Lisanna, before the trio of siblings had happened upon Fairy Tail. It put a small smile to her visage, and in each and every family she met, she made sure to promise them all that they would no longer have to live in fear and that everything was okay now.

Despite all that however, the white haired demon could not shake the eerie feeling that had now settled in her gut from the moment that she had entered this town. Whatever was going on here felt strikingly similar to something that she had just experienced recently, and no amount of action from her could shake it off?

She had even tried to recall everything recent that had happened to her within the past one month, but she couldn't seem to recall anything specific. It seemed to be a distant memory, sealed away in the recesses of her mind and something that seemed to not want to resurface it.

She could only hope that she would get to the root of it sooner than later.

Checking through what she believed to be the last affected house, she heaved a sigh of relief,before steeling her nerves as she prepared herself to go and rejoin Natsu. Hopefully she had not taken too much time with her own personal investigations, and she definitely hoped that Natsu had not gotten into any trouble by himself.

 _Natsu, I hope you're okay…._

XOXOX

The door was swung open with a tad more force than necessary, and the loud crack of wood as it landed on the wall behind the door was definitely loud enough to be heard throughout the entire town.

Then again, Natsu was never one for delicacy, so such a degree of action should have been expected from him from the moment that he had set out on the hunch that he had picked up on while with Mira and the old man.

"Finally found you!" He declared triumphantly, a grin mirroring his features and representing his current state of mind as well.

From within the depths of the dingy room, something which he had already picked up on as unusual, he could hear a variety of sounds.

There was a sound like the bubbling of various liquids and solutions, plus the soft clang of glass on what sounded like….metal?

The pink haired man tried picking up on any other smells and sounds within the vicinity, but since nothing else entirely stood out as odd to him, he decided to venture into the dingy room.

He was grateful for his enhanced senses at a time like that.

There was a minimal amount of light entering the room owing to the curtains present at the windows that were yet to be drawn, but Natsu could still make out a vast majority of the room's features.

True to his earlier observation, there were two tables on both opposites of the room, and on each of the tables were a series of glass flasks, each of them filled with liquids of differing colors. The liquids in each of the flasks were all subjected to various degrees of heat, some of them bubbling noisily and a few of them bubbling without a single wisp of sound. Aligned on each of the tables as well were translucent containers that seemed to contain a powdery substance. When Natsu took a whiff of one of the substances, he was exposed to an endless bout of coughing, something that made him reconsider checking out the other substances themselves.

In the middle of the room, etched on the wooden surface of the floor, there was a large vortex. The vortex itself seemed as if it had recently been drawn there, owing to the chipped edges it had at some points, plus the smell of that area seemed eerily similar to….chalk?

It was similar to the tricks he and Gray had played on the guild as kids, which involved scribbling on the guild and having to deal with the Master breathing down their throats soon afterwards.

He decided to check around the room instead without touching any of the substances there, and what he had sensed earlier while with the old man and Mira was definitely true.

There was an unusual amount of magical energy in the room itself and surrounding the house.

However, something else was amiss.

Why was the room empty?

From what Natsu could pick on, there was definitely someone in the room a few moments earlier, but for them to be able to disappear that quickly…

Less than a fraction of a second earlier….he was going to find the answer to that question.

There was a soft crunch of wood behind him, and he quickly ducked out of the way as he rapidly heard something aiming for his face.

Once safely out of harm's way, he skidded a few meters on the ground away, aiming to create a safe distance between his opponent and him as much as possible.

The weapon itself was a small knife, one that could easily be concealed by anyone, something that Natsu duly noted as he took in the features of his assailant.

As expected, the man was coated in the scent of the magic that was omnipresent in the entire area. He was of an almost similar stature as Natsu, and he seemed to be as old as Laxus. The way he gripped his knife in his hand was reminiscent of someone who had not had much experience in combat, but still knew quite enough to enable him get by if he ever found himself in a tight spot.

"To think you'd dodge an attack like that, my my, we have quite the specimen here don't we now?" The man said, twirling the knife in his hand, which Natsu realized was in his left hand. Was he ambidextrous?

"Bastard, you're the one behind the disappearances aren't you? Give the people you took back!" Natsu shouted, this time cock sure of his earlier suspicions. He broke into a charge towards the man, intending to bring the smack down on him for what he deemed an unforgivable act.

Surprisingly however, the assailant did not flinch or make any visible attempt to get out of the way of the impending attack. There was a smug grin on his face as he watched the pink haired man slowly close the distance between them, and once he was only a breath away…he lashed out with his right hand.

The air was set on fire.

Natsu stopped dead in his tracks as he realized that he was currently covered in fire, courtesy of the violent reaction from earlier.

"It's potassium. Even a grain of it exposed to air will lead to an explosive reaction."

There was an open jar on the table nearest the man, possibly where he had obtained the chemical from, and from what could be seen, he had definitely used an unhealthy amount of it just then on Natsu.

"Seems like you drew the short end of the stick," he stated in voice dripping with confidence, turning his back to Natsu as he prepared to head right back to his experiments. The appearance of the pink haired man had come as a surprise to him, but owing to the fact that Natsu was not exactly blessed with the quality of being silent, he had already picked up on his thundering footsteps as he neared the house from a good distance away. That had allowed him enough time to stage an appropriate response and attack in order to dispatch the man as quickly and effortlessly as possible.

However, with all the precautions he had taken, he had definitely forgotten to account for one thing.

By the time Natsu's fist made contact with the back of his body, it was already too late for the man, as he was sent reeling into the wall that was just ahead of him.

The assailant hadn't stayed behind to confirm whether or not the attack was effective on the pink haired lad, or even paid attention to hear any screams from him in pain due to being lynched.

From his inverted position on the ground, now looking up at the young lad's visage, the scientist realized that there wasn't even a scratch on him. His eyes widened in surprise, having not foreseen this turn of events, and certainly not having predicted that a mage had just walked into his house.

It was entirely different from all the specimens he had to work with in past weeks, all of them being human.

"That won't work on me. Fire and other forms of explosions are useless against me," Natsu said, his fist still outstretched in front of him in the same manner that he had landed that blow just then.

"A Slayer type eh? Then I confess, I don't have the means necessary to stop you right now," the elder man said, as he took on a more comfortable position where he was. There was an oddly confident grin on his face as he spoke to Natsu.

Natsu immediately charged up his fist with fire, readying himself for a decisive blow on the man before he would find a way to make him release all the townspeople he had captured.

"Huh? What are you blabbering about?" He idly asked before breaking out into another charge at the man, this time all but assured that the man had another trick up his sleeve.

The assailant slowly got up from where he was on the ground, dusting himself casually.

"Its a few hours earlier than the appointed time, but, time are up. Since you were so eager to come here and find me, I'll do you a special service and make you the next target."

Natsu froze in mid air.

He was shocked, as all feeling seemed to have been sapped away from his limbs and he couldn't move a single inch of his body.

The faint smell of chalk on his nose, however, was enough to tell him exactly where he was at said moment and would also explain why he had suddenly been frozen.

 _Shit._

"Goodbye, Slayer Wizard."

The vortex that stood where he currently was inside started to glow, and Natsu became frantic in his attempts to escape the trap that he had unwittingly fallen into.

Still trying to regain back control of his body, the Dragon Slayer realized that slowly, but surely, his feet were slowly leaving the ground. Beads of perspiration broke out onto his visage, and once he was fully aware of his feet no longer in contact with the ground below him, he realized that there was no escaping this.

He didn't even have the energy or willpower to curse at the man who was smiling satisfactorily directly in his line of vision.

As if from a dream, the next thing that crossed his vision was a streak of crimson, and the next thing he knew, he was in a rough collision with the ground beneath him.

That wasn't the only thing however.

There was something warm covering his face and a good portion of his torso, and he didn't have to think twice about it to realize that he was under the hold of someone.

He would never mistake that hair, or the emblem on her arm from anywhere.

"Erza?! "

The red haired woman looked down at him from where she had him in her hold, having just barely managed to get to him in time and frisking him away from the force that had threatened to warp him away to some unknown place.

Checking to make sure that the pink haired boy was in no immediate danger from any wounds that may have been on his body, Erza allowed herself to release a sigh of relief, but that didn't mean that Natsu's momentary shock was going to go away.

"You? You were here the whole time?" Natsu asked incredulously, his eyes having grown to the size of bulbs.

She could not hide the amusement in her face and voice from seeing Natsu's reaction just then. Chuckling, she responded," It's good to see you too Natsu."

"That damn elder didn't even say anything!" Natsu lamented, now free from Erza's hold and his arms folded over his chest as he felt himself annoyed by the old man who had refused to say anything regarding Erza's presence in the village.

He then turned to the red haired girl, a mask of curiosity now on his face. "Why are you here?" He wondered out loud.

"I'll explain later. Right now, I have to deal with him." She said the last part of her sentence with a certain sternness that Natsu did not fail to take note of.

When she turned to look at the third person in the room, her stare was full of venom, and she seemed ready to strike him down at any moment.

The scientist had a look of disapproval on his face as he stared back at Erza.

"Impossible. How were you able to bypass the body seal written into the vortex?" He asked in a dull voice, although there were underlying tones of curiosity in his voice.

That was when Natsu had realized that he had not quite paid attention to the girl in front of him. When he turned to look at her, this time, he realized that she wasn't in her usual Heart Kreuz Armor.

Indeed, she was clad in a purple revealing kimono. The kimono itself consisted of a short sleeveless tunic decorated by many flower motifs, with a revealing cleavage and revealing opening on the sides, exposing much of Erza's chest, held closed by both a large, dark obi, which had a thin red rope tied around it and sports a wide closing ribbon on the back, and by a lighter, smaller white belt, which are both wrapped around a pink, flower-patterned cloth circling Erza's waist on the back and the sides.

"I used the Robe of Yuen. It has elastic properties that allow me to bypass any form of body sealing movement, therefore even in scenarios whereby movement is limited, with this armor I can pretty much still move freely."

Natsu had to admit, Erza's quick thinking in dire situations was nothing short of impressive.

The red haired woman got up from her position on the ground, then pointed her spear at the scientist. "Surrender! You can't possibly think you have any chance of victory with two mages here."

Despite how satisfied she was at finally getting to the bottom of everything that had been happening in this town, she couldn't quite allow herself to focus all her attention on the scientist, as there was something else that needed to be addressed immediately within the same vicinity.

From her prior investigations in the town about the magical signatures that seemed to be conflicting with the natural environment of the town, she had already deduced that once a vortex opened up, it would only close up once it had absorbed a target, or when it had registered the presence of a person in the formation. In the latter case, absorption didn't necessarily have to occur, but the end result was the same, the portal would still close up.

Then why wasn't the current one closing?

"Oh no, oh no," the scientist who was standing opposite them began fretting, pacing restlessly from one end of the room to the other, and as expected, that didn't help to alleviate the growing sense of unease that Erza was feeling.

The vortex grew brighter and brighter….and in the midst of the blinding light, Erza was able to push Natsu and herself away from the epicenter of it all, just as the light grew stronger and stronger and proceeded to envelop the entire room.

XOXOX

Outside the unexplored building, the white haired mage stood motionlessly, the last few minutes having brought back a plethora of bad memories for her.

The memory that had refused to resurface itself had finally revealed itself to her.

It was the same thing that had happened on the night her sister had died.

The feeling had rendered her unable to move for a few minutes, as she attempted to shake away the horrible feeling that had now settled itself into her gut.

Unmistakably however, she had identified Erza making her way into the house a few minutes earlier, exquipping as she entered the open doorway. The white haired mage was initially surprised at seeing her friend in the village, but she soon managed to recollect herself as she prepared herself to jump in after her.

But then, the glow inside the place had brightened, and she had hesitated a little before deciding to finally enter the place.

She had to face her demons sooner after all, or else they would threaten to devour her full.

The first thing that Mirajane Strauss saw when she entered the house was the white haired girl who was lying limp on the ground.

 **A/N:** That ended up way longer than I thought it would…but finally glad I was able to bring back Erza into the story, so now Erza, Natsu and Mirajane are in the same place.

Who's the mysterious girl that Mira saw at the end though?:O

I do hope you all liked the chapter though!

Thanks for reading!


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